Humphrey's Bachelor Party
by Villain84
Summary: Rated T for some alcohol and drug reference. Before he settles down for his marriage to Kate, Humphrey goes out for one last Hoorah! with Garth, Salty, Shakey, Mooch, Marcel and Paddy. My first story on this site. Please read and review. NOT ABANDONED
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

It has been about two weeks since Garth and Lilly had married and united the Western and Eastern packs. Since then, all wolves in both packs have bonded closely together, and everyone shares all meat that is hunted. Winston and Tony work together keeping the packs held together, and plan on retiring soon as said in the film. When they do so, Tony plans on leaving Garth in charge of the pack. In other news, Shakey has started dating Janice. Everyone is happy.

The only small problem is that a pride of cougars has just come up from over Pyramid Mountain (a real existing mountain in Jasper), and are coveting the richness and beauty of the wolves' valley. Winston and Tony decide it is best that they do not share the valley with the cougars, considering their destructive, greedy nature, so the cougars now dwell in the mountains, waiting for the right time to strike.

Before we proceed, let me introduce to you some of my OCs that you will see in this story:

**Harrison:** The envious and hateful leader of the cougar pride. He hates all wolves because when he was a cub, a pack of wolves killed his family, and left him for dead. He is also gluttonous and greedy, hording meat to himself and his pack, not caring about any other species that might need it. He will stop at nothing until he and his pack are in complete control of Jasper Park, including driving the humans away from it. He is also somewhat abusive to those closest to him. As a running gag, many characters, especially Humphrey, call him "Harry", which pisses him off to no end because he thinks its a stupid name.

About his physical appearance, he has typical, orange-brownish fur like normal cougars, with a considerable mane, hazel eyes, and a scar across his forehead down his left eye. A good voice actor for him would be Tobin Bell.

**Oscar:** Harrison's "best friend" and right-paw cat. Oscar is somewhat aggressive, and has a short temper, is usually ready for a fight, but can be very humorous, kind and friendly when convenient for him. He is also very bright, though he tends to submit to Harrison. Despite this, Oscar still respects his friend. Basically, Oscar is the Smithers to Harrison's Monty Burns. He has grayish brown fur, with white spots on his sides, white ears, and greenish-yellow eyes. His voice is similar to those of Jack Black or Jonah Hill.

**Tiana:** Harrison's mate. Though she usually stands by her mate in his decisions, and hates wolves just as much as he does, she occasionally acts as his voice of reason. Her fur is lighter than Oscar's, and her eyes are bright blue. Voiced by Whoopi Goldberg or Meryl Streep.

**Pete:** A crazy, likely mentally retarded, and above all volatile cougar who laughs like a maniac all the time, and is always jittery and futzing. Harrison tends to use him as a weapon of enforcement. He has light brown fur, his ears are both gnawed, and his eyes are a sickly reddish-yellow shade, with his pupils usually pointed in different directions. Voiced by Mark Hamill.

**Chloe: **A cougar with creme-colored fur torquoise-colored eyes. She is a lower-ranked in the pack. She has a crush on Oscar, finding him cute, strong and funny. He seems to like her as well, as he often acts cool and tries to impress her when they are together. Only problem is because they are in different ranks, Harrison forbids that Oscar spend too much time with her. She is very kind and caring and friendly, even to the wolves. She dislikes the turf war between the two species, and tries to keep out of the violence, and hardley acts hostile toward anyone, which sometimes angers Oscar. A good voice actress for her would be Grey DeLisle.

**Bruiser and Carnage: **These two brother cougars are, huge, muscular, though dim-witted, less-brain-more-brawn-type of thugs who are often seen doing dirty work for Harrison or Oscar. Carnage has brownish-gold fur, and Bruiser is dark brown. Bruiser is actually the stupider of the two, and is usually in a happy, silly mood, while Carnage tends to be more aggressive and violent.

**Duke:** Harrison's pet fox snake. Duke adores and is very loyal to his owner and all his family and friends. He often functions as a guard dog or hunting hound, and sometimes baby sits for Roger and Joey. He is usually fed picas and condor eggs. He is also very literate, and often recites the work of Shakespeare and other famous authors. He is yellow with dark spots, and has a voice similar to that of the Jester from Overlord.

**Roger and Joey:** The cubs of Harrison and Tiana. They are still very young, about the same age group as the bear cub from the movie. Roger is the more mature and wiser of the two. Both are very playful and silly. Roger has about the same color fur as his father, maybe a little lighter, while Joey has the same fur as Tiana, with some black stripes across his coat.

**Milo:** A former Gamma wolf from the Eastern wolf pack, and one of Garth's closest friends. Before the class rule was eliminated, he was not allowed to hang out with Garth after their young years, but they got back together after this rule was eliminated, and also became close friends with Lilly, and Hutch. He is wild, and loves both parties and games, but does not stray from the duties he has as a Gamma, and never turns down a chance for extra meat. His fur is whitish-grayish, and on his head has a lock of shaggy, messed up black fur that covers his face down to his snout.

**Chelsea:** A Beta Wolf from the Eastern pack. She is a friend of Kate and Lilly, and currently Milo's mate. She has grey fur, with black spots.

**Rocky:** Another Beta wolf from the Eastern pack. He was originally intended to be Chelsea's mate, but that was before he fell in love with Reba. He is very close friends with Milo and Garth, and a pretty good hunter and tracker. He has dark red fur, black paws, dark eyes, and a deep voice. he has some black spots on his back and ears.

Anyhow, Humphrey and Kate are planning on having their marriage ceremony in about two days from the present. For Humphrey, he realizes this means more responsibility and less time for all the omega fun and games he loves so much. So he has made plans with Salty, Shakey, Mooch, Garth, Marcel, and Paddy to go out for one last hoorah! Before settling down with Kate. This is the story of their adventures for this hoorah.


	2. Chapter 2: The Gathering

It was noon in Jasper Park, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, illuminating a beautiful, bright blue sky. It was spring's peak now. Birds were zipping through the air and filling the air with sweet chirps.

Humphrey was sitting by the creak enjoying the beauty of summer, and having a refreshing drink of water, waiting for his friends when Garth walked up to him cheerfully.

"Hey," he called to his friend, "What's up?"

"Nothing but the sky!" Humphrey smirked calmly.

"Ha! Never get tired of that one!" Garth chuckled as he came over beside Humphrey and dipped his muzzle into the water.

"So where are the guys?"

"Oh, they're coming, I'm sure. Just need to give them a second. Kate out on her Alpha duties?"

"Yep. She said she's been trying to hunt some extra caribou for our reception. She says she's gotten about four so far."

"Oh, Cool. I love caribou."

"Yeah, me too. Beautiful weather, don't you think?"

"Yep. Perfect for a wedding, huh?"

"Yep." Now that the brief awkward phase was over, Humphrey decided to start a more meaningful conversation. "So, you ready to have some fun tonight?"

"I sure am!" Garth exclaimed, "Especially since I didn't get to have a bachelor party before I got married to Lilly."

"WHAT! Why not?" cried Humphrey, surprised.

"Well, for one thing, we were all in a rush to marry me to Lilly and unite the packs before things got out of hand."

"Oh, right."

"And the other thing is my dad hated Omegas and their fun-loving ways. He told me I was never aloud to do anything suited for an Omega, that included a lot of the fun things they do." Garth's voice started to trail off into a sad, depressed state as he remembered his boring life as an Alpha. "He always kept me busy, either hunting weaker animals, fighting, ordering around lower classes, or exercising. I admit the hunting and exercising stuff was fun, but I guess it would have been nice to hang out more with my buddy, Milo. Of course, whenever Milo came near me without permission, my Dad always threatened him."

Humphrey, feeling Garth's depression, tries to cheer him up more. "Well, don't think about any of that stuff now." He says happily. "Its all in the past. You're allowed to hang out with Milo now, now that Alphas, Betas, Gammas and Omegas are all equals. So we are going to go out tonight, and have some real fun!"

Garth smiled at his brother in law, seeing the optimism in his calm, blue eyes. "Thanks Humphrey. Just remember, this is _your_ bachelor party, not mine. Tonight is about _you_!"

"That's right!" Shouted the high, scratchy voice that could only be Salty's. He and Shakey jumped out from behind a rock. "Tonight is all about the top dog!"

"Hey guys." Said Humphrey, happy to see his life-long friends. Suddenly, he looked around and noticed what was wrong. "Hey, where's Mooch?"

"Oh, he's with Janice and Reba for a second. He'll catch right up." Replied Shakey.

"How long will he be?" asked Garth

"Oh, I don't know. Probably not that long."

"Not long at all guys!" called Mooch's deep voice from behind the bushes.

"Hey Mooch, buddy, what took you so long?" asked Humphrey, turning around to face him. Upon doing so, he noticed that Mooch as carrying with him a few squirrels on his back. Those squirrels each held a small, hollowed-out tree trunk, each with a black liquid spilling from them.

"You guys have to see this: Look at what Janice and Reba brewed up!" Mooch exclaimed as he came to a stop next to the creak. "Well, go on, take one!"

As they were told, each wolf reached over and took one trunk (let's call them cups, it will make things easier) from the squirrels. Humphrey first looked down at the strange, black, reflective liquid in his paw, usurer of what it would taste like. Finally, he licked his lips, and took a small sip. Salty, Shakey, and Garth did so too.

Instantly, Humphrey's mouth was filled with a sweet, tangy, though also somewhat bitter flavor, followed by some fizz that tickled his tongue and gums. "They say to let it sit for a second before swallowing." Said Mooch. So Humphrey let it sit another second, then gulped it down. Right then, he began to feel a very faint buzzing in the back of his head.

Salty put his cup down, and stuck out his tongue, followed by a silent "ahh" to so he was refreshed. Shakey did so too, though without sticking out his tongue. Garth, who was more mannered than the two, simply smiled with a satisfied "Mmmm."

"Mooch, this stuff is good! What is it?" he asked.

Mooch struggled to remember all the ingredients the girls used. "I think Reba said something about some of those black berries nobody likes, a few small drops of a caribou's blood, a dash of something called 'pekoe', a couple of leaves from other herbs I don't remember the names of, and… umm…"

"Good day gentlemen!" Mooch's monologue was interrupted by a certain Canadian-French goose, and his British-accented duck sidekick.

"Hey, Marcel, Paddy, glad you guys could make it!" said Humphrey smiling at the two birds who have helped him and Kate get home.

"Of course, we wouldn't miss your special night or day for the world, Humphrey." Cheered Paddy.

"Well, I wouldn't, I'm not so sure about him." Chuckled Marcel.

"Well, looks like we're all here!" chimed in Garth. "Are we ready to get this party started?"

"Almost." Humphrey replied. He turned back to Paddy. "Paddy, you have the list?"

"What list?"

"The list… the one with all the things I wanted us to do. Humphrey was now starting to sound frantic.

The one we wanted you to write because you can write and we can't!" said Shakey, also sounding frantic.

"Oh, you mean… this one!" exclaimed Paddy, pulling out a piece of bark and a stick of charcoal from behind his back. Everyone burst into laughter. Paddy really had them fooled. Mooch then insisted that Marcel and Paddy try some of Janice and Reba's punch, so they both took a cup.

"Okay then. Now before we get going, I just want to say something to you guys quick." Humphrey grabbed his cup, and jumped up onto a rock so that he was standing above everyone and they could see him.

"Okay, so umm…" he started awkwardly, trying to put his words together, then thought it out and moved on with his speech, still nervously. "First off, I want to acknowledge each of you. First, you three crazy omega dopes. Salty, Shakey, Mooch. I've known you guys since we were pups, and ever since we were pups, you've always been there for me. You've helped me get through most of my problems, always played with me when I was alone, but most of all, you've shown me how to have fun!"

"That was me!" shouted Shakey.

"If it hadn't been for you guys, I wouldn't be the guy I am today, probably. You guys will always be in a special place in my heart." Humphrey turned to Marcel and Paddy next.

"You guys here, have come to me in one of my darkest hours. Back when me and Kate were hunted, and lost in Idaho, you guys took a lot of time out of your weeks to get us home. You're like that star in the night sky that ships follow to return to their harbors."

"Beautiful metaphor, Humphrey." Sniffled Paddy, nearly on the verge of tears.

"Ingenious metaphor, Humphrey!" exclaimed Marcel, again ignoring his caddy.

"Thank you. But really, I know I can always count on you guys to get me out of a fix when I need it. So in return, just know that I'll try- no I _will_- be there for you guys when you need me. I will be your star!"

This brought the two birds to tears, and they cried on each other's shoulders and hugged. Finally, Humphrey turned to Garth.

"And last, but absolutely not least, there's you Garth. I admit, you and I did sort of get off on the wrong paw, but look at us now! We're like brothers!"

"Well, technically, we are brothers…" Garth stated. "brothers in law… because our mates are sisters."

"Yeah, that's true, but it's not the point I'm trying to make. "Ever since you and Lilly have become mates, we have been hanging out more and more. We've really gotten to know each other I'd say. And we've helped each other with our problems. So I just hope that eventually, we can retain this friendship, and stand by each other, as we stand by our mates!

"And now," Humphrey continued, this time looking out at the whole group, much more strong and confident than when he began. "As you all know, in just three days from today, I will marry the girl of my dreams. What that will have in store for me, I can only guess at, but hopefully, only good things. Now this is a beautiful thing, and I know you are all happy for me, right?"

Everyone nodded and shouted things like "yeah" and "oh yeah" and "Kate Rocks!" "and absolutely".

"I thought so. The only thing is now that I am about to have a family, some pups, grow old with someone, that all means more responsibilities for me and less time for all the fun and games we all love." His voice was starting to trial off, become sad and quieter. He took a brief pause to gaze at the faces of his friends. Now those faces were also starting to turn from smiling ones to frowning, depressed ones.

Humphrey shook his head, driving out all negative thoughts, then continued his speech with strength and confidence. "And that is why we are here tonight! This night is going to be dedicated to all those fun things we like to do. We are going to have one final _Hoorah!_ before I settle down with Kate. Just remember, even after I marry Kate, and we may not have as much time together anymore, just remember that all of you will always, and I mean _always_, be my friends!"

Humphrey raised his cup up and reached over to his friends. "To us, to friendship! Friends for Life!"

Salty, Shakey and Mooch raised their cups up aswell. "Friends for Life!" they all shouted in unison. "Friends for Life!" Marcel and Paddy raised their cups into the crowd aswell. Garth raised his cup last. "Friends for Life!" He shouted, and they all clacked their cups together, and chugged down all the punch that was in them.

Humphrey finished his cup, then through it down on the floor. It did not break, as it was a wooden, hollowed out tree trunk. And then he jumped down from his rock. "Alright then, let's get this party started!"


	3. Chapter 3: Pretty Colors

And so the party set out to make sure Humphrey had a night he would never forget. The sun was still bright and shining, not a cloud in the sky. The party was walking together through the woods. The Omegas all seemed to know where they were going, but Garth seemed a bit lost.

"So, where are we going first again?" he asked Humphrey.

"Well, Paddy, what was the first thing on the list again?" Humphrey turned back to Paddy, waddling beside Marcel in the back.

"Ahh, yes." He took out the bark list from behind his back again. "First it says 'dope flowers', whatever that means."

"Okay, good. We're going the right way then." Humphrey said assumingly.

The other Omegas chuckled, knowing what they were in for now. "You still didn't answer my question." Complained Garth.

"You'll see." Scoffed Humphrey. "We're almost there."

"Yep. Almost there." Said Shakey happily. "Its just on the other side of this bush." He pointed out that they have come to a wall-like thicket of tall grass.

"Garth, prepare your eyes for what you are about to see!" whispered Humphrey to Garth. He then motioned for Shakey and Mooch to draw back the grass, opening up to a huge field of flowers, each about as tall as the wolves were. For about a mile down, where the clearing ended with another wall of trees, there were beautiful dots in nearly every shade of red, yellow, and white. A light breeze suddenly swept in and blew through the flowers, making them dance and quaver.

"This is beautiful." Was all Garth could say after a few minutes. "I could stare at this place for hours.

"Such beauty and tranquility!" Marcel threw in.

"Yep. This is a pretty place." Humphrey replied. He apparently had come here many times with the other guys, as he did not feel the same spark Garth and Marcel felt. "Now let's get down to business."

"Yeah!" shouted the other Omegas.

"Wait, business? I don't understand." Said Garth, confused.

"Well, you see, this place is pretty and all," explained Humphrey, "but what's really cool about this place is that these flowers, well… If you sniff them hard enough, the pollen goes up your snout and to your brain, and it gives you this… sensation."

"What do you mean 'sensation'?" asked Garth suspiciously.

"It's hard to explain." Chimed in Salty. You have to go through it to understand it.

"In Alpha school, I learned about this one plant with seven leaves, and sniffing it can make you see the world in pretty colors, but it also damages your brain and…"

Humphrey suddenly interrupted Garth. "No! It's not like that. That stuff, if you have one sniff of it, you always want more and more! This stuff is different." He said assuringly as they started to walk towards the field. "We like playing around with it, but we can stop playing in it any time we want."

"Okay, I guess." Said Garth, not sounding too sure that this was a good idea.

"Just look at Mooch. He's going with it already!" Everyone looked over at Mooch. He had a lot of flowers together with him, and sniffing them so hard that it seemed he would tear the petals from the stems. It must have worked; he must have inhaled a lot of pollen, as his eyes became red and droopy, and he started giggling softly.

"He's in _the zone_!" announced Salty.

"Yep." Replied Shakey. "I vote Garth be the next one to go."

"What, oh no!" Garth was starting to back down nervously.

"Ahh, come on buddy. It will be fun!" said Humphrey egging. "Just one small sniff, and we'll never make you do this again! Promise." Shakey was already getting together a bouquet to bring to Garth.

"I don't know…"

"Come on! Do it for me." Salty and Shakey were chanting, "Come on Garth! Come on Garth!"

"Think of it like this:" Humphrey continued, suddenly starting to sound a little serious. "You told me you didn't have a bachelor party before you got married to Lilly. Well now's your chance to make up for it. Aren't you upset that you didn't get to have that one last _hoorah_? Well, here you go! Tonight, every second should count, every minute should be fun; for all of us! So come on! Have a sniff!"

Garth stared at the bouquet Shakey was holding up to him. His eyes first glance in every other available direction, until finally, he gave in, and took a deep breath. "You promise I won't get addicted to this?"

"I swear on Winston's grave." Said Humphrey.

"Well, okay then. Here it goes." Garth dropped his snout into the bouquet, and took in a big, long sniff. His nose filled with a sweet, abnormally strong scent from all the flowers, and he pulled away to stop his eyes from watering.

"Well Garth, how do ya feel?" he thought he heard Shakey ask.

"I feel… I feel…" Garth could not find the right words. It seemed as though his mind were drawing a blank. His head suddenly felt light as a balloon. Then as he looked out at the field, the colors of the flowers, all the red, yellow, and white, seemed to be mixed together as though in a whirlpool. Then the whirlpool started to suck in the green of the trees, the blue of the sky, and the grey and brown of all his friend's faces.

And then his stomach felt bubbly and tingly inside. He started giggling uncontrollably. He suddenly had a sense to go wild, so he ran into the field, dancing and singing like a lunatic, completely unaware of his actions.

"Yep, he's in the zone now." Said Salty. "My turn!" He turned around to an unused flowerbed, and sniffed it all down, and then Shakey came up and did the same. Humphrey was the last wolf to inhale the pollen, and see the world go blurry in his eyes.

"Well Marcel, shall we join in?" Paddy asked his friend.

"Ahh, sure. Why not. What the heck. Maybe just one flower."

So the birds each buried their bills into one flower, Marcel's red and Paddy's yellow, and soon, the entire party was, as Salty would say, "in the zone."

They frolicked and rolled around in the meadow for a good long time that day. They each were as blind as a bat, only seeing things in blurs. They shouted silly things like "my eyes are coconuts!" or "hey look out for that wildebeest!" when one of them saw Mooch. Shakey at one point mistook Marcel for a turkey, and hugged and danced with him. Humphrey and Salty ran into each other at one point. None of them had hardly any idea what they were doing or saying or going, but they were having fun.

Finally, after a few hours had past, their vision cleared up, and they came to their senses. They were all far away from each other, so Humphrey howled up, signaling the others where he was, and so they would all come to him.

When they all met up again, they all started giggling and talking about how hilarious they acted (all they could remember, at least).

"Well Garth? Admit it! That was awesome!" Humphrey said to Garth.

"Humphrey, I must admit; that was sick!"

"See, didn't we tell ya?" exclaimed Salty.

"Now, the only thing is, because this was your first time, tomorrow you're going to have a pretty bad headache." Shakey brought up, starting to sound a bit worried. Garth's smile started to fade as he said that.

"Yeah, and on the way to our next activity, we should stop by the river and wash that pollen out of your snout." Said Mooch. "Otherwise the side effects could be… ummm… fatal."

"What? Cried Garth, suddenly scared. "Why didn't you tell me that before I sniffed it?"

"Well, because you would have completely backed out then." replied Shakey, cool as a cucumber.

"I told you this was a bad idea Paddy!" scolded Marcel. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" Paddy shot him a slightly dirty look.

"Relax, you'll be fine!" said Humphrey in an even more relaxed tone. "the side effects don't kick in until after a few days. We'll have that pollen out in no time. Just a quick run to the river, and snort of the water, and it will all be cleansed out of your system. Trust us, we've done this many times."

This calmed down Garth a little. "So, Paddy, what's next on the list."

"Oh, right." He said, still drearily waking up from his trance. "It seems we are to go to the hunter's camp to 'torture hunters'!"


	4. Chapter 4: The Hunters' Camp

The seven friends had just finished rinsing out the pollen of the dope flowers at the small river that once divided the packs, and now they were on their way to a Hunters' Camp on the other end of the wolves' territory. The sun was now starting to set, and shaded the sky in a bright gold, with the clouds a darker orange.

"So, what does it mean when the list said to 'torture the hunters'?" asked Garth.

"Well, you know those humans who are always hunting our alphas just for sport?" replied Shakey, "Well, we've always wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine, you know? Make them the prey while we are the predators? Ya know what I'm saying?"

"We've also come down here some times when they've had barbecues to steal their hamburgers. Yum!" Mooch licked his lips at that last word. _Hamburgers_.

Humphrey picked up from there. "But Kate's always talked me out of it because she doesn't want me-"

"-Or the rest of us" Salty interrupted.

"-to get hurt." Finished Humphrey. "And so now is our last chance to do it. You up for this, Garth?"

After a brief pause, Garth responded angrily with "I always did want to give those dirty apes a piece of my mind! Alright, let's do it!"

"Hold on now." Marcel suddenly said, trying to sound reasonable. "We're going to fight a group of humans, with guns?"

"No. Not fight." Replied Shakey calmly. "We've talked about this for a long time. We have a plan on how to take care of these guys.

"But I don't know the plan." Said Garth, worried now.

"We'll explain it to you in a second." Said Humphrey soothingly.

"Why not now?"

"Because we're there." And suddenly, the party came to the edge of the forest, where the trees ended. And for a long way down, on both sides, there was not a tree in sight. It was as if a wall had kept the forest from reaching this area, leaving only a half-mile wide gorge in between the forest and the mountains.

Not far from the wolves down to the left was a huge camp of trailers and trucks. The smoke and glare of a crackling campfire could be seen, and the wolves could see several hunters gathered around it, drinking, dancing, playing harmonica and sleeping.

"There they are!" said Humphrey.

"Now remember guys: On the other side of that camp, the ground is covered in bear traps." Garth warned everyone.

"Then it's a good thing we're coming in from this side." Chuckled Salty.

"Well then. You blokes go ahead and have fun, I certainly hope none of you get shot." Said Marcel, "we will just stay here where it's safe."

"Okay, but you're gonna miss the show!" Humphrey egged, trying to make it sound intriguing. He and the other wolves jumped from the cover of the trees, and crouched down into the grass, the slowly crawled towards the camp.

"So, what should we do now?" Paddy asked.

"20 questions?"

"Sure. You first."

The wolves crawled up right behind one trailer. They each peeked around the corner and looked over at the hunters on the campfire. They counted five hunters there, as well as one teenage human girl who was napping in her chair, listening to what humans call "a walkman".

Each hunter was a mess. One was fat and covered in gravy, and chicken crumbs, one had a handsome tan, and was chewing tobacco, one was tall and skinny and playing his harmonica, one wiping his glasses, then his rifle. One short guy with a big red moustache was snoring, making his moustache sway with his snores. A final one looked mean, and muscular, with a brown leather vest and tattoos all over his arms, was sharpening a big knife.

"Okay, everyone got the plan?" Humphrey whispered back to everyone. They all nodded and said "mm-hm".

"Good. Before we get going, there's one last thing." He tiptoed over to a line of hung up clothes. He quickly grabbed a large pair of black socks, plus a black sweater, and as many black clothes as he could find. Then he ran back to everyone and divvied everything out, and told everyone to put one on. He kept the sock for himself, and started to put it on over his muzzle and face, tearing some holes into it.

The hunters were relaxing, enjoying the evening when suddenly, they heard a sharp noise, like a barrel being knocked over, a few of them jumped. "What was that?" asked the tall one, frightened.

"Eh, probably ain't nothin but those dang marmots again." Replied the fat one sluggishly, "I'll get 'em." He grabbed his shotgun lying next to his chair, and waddled off to the back.

As he was walking down the shadowy lane of the camp, he pumped his shotgun, and had it at the ready. He saw a bit of rustling in a garbage pile, and grinned as he came over to it, knowing it was a marmot. He came up close to the pile, then quickly tore off an old newspaper, revealing a tiny, helpless, and completely scared marmot.

"Gotcha!" the hunter shouted, and was just about to shoot the poor thing when suddenly he heard a big bang in the ally way behind him. Startled, he turned around to see a trash can shaking ferociously, as though something big had just smashed it. The hunter forgot about the marmot, realizing he was up against something much worse.

The hunter slowly walked up close to the trashcan, knowing that his enemy would be just around the corner. Now shaking, the hunter swallowed his fear, and jumped out from behind the corner, shotgun pointed, and came face to face with a big, brownish-red furred wolf. "AHH!" Was all he could say before the beast pounced.

The other hunters all heard their friend's scream, and also the roar of a beast. "Uhhh… Scott? You okay buddy?" Called the tall one.

"We better go check on him." Grumbled the mean-looking one, seething his knife and grabbing his automatic rifle. "And someone wake up Sam." Gesturing the short, mustached one who was still snoring.

"I got him. You guys go on ahead." Said the tanned one, spitting out his tobacco. The other hunters went out back to search for Scott, while the tanned one went over to the short one, apparently named Sam. "Sam, Sam, wake up." The tanned guy said softly while shaking his friend.

The short one jumped up wide awake immediately, grabbed the tanned one's jacket, and pulled him down to his height. Then with his free hand, he pulled a revolver out from his pocket, and pointed it straight at the tanned guy's face. "Wha duh ya want from me ya dang mugger? I ain't given you nothin'!" He shouted

"Sam! Sam! I'm not mugging you! It's me, Bill!"

"Oh, Sorry Bill." Said Sam, much more calmly. "Ya startled me a sec there." He let go of Bill's jacket, and put his revolver back into his pocket. "So what is it? Why'd ya have to wake me up?"

"Well, we might have a problem. See, Scott went to…"

"Bill, Sam, get over here! You have to see this!" called one of the other hunters from the other side of the camp.

Bill and Sam ran over and caught up with their three allies. They were all crouching over something, and staring at it in horror. It was Scott's fat body, lying down face-up on the ground, in a pile of garbage. He had a huge bite mark on his arm that was bleeding He was still breathing, luckily, though he seemed barely conscious. The hunter with glasses was already at work bandaging up his arm, and pointed out that something hard had hit him on the head.

"I better get him to his trailer." He said.

"Good idea." Replied the mean-looking guy. He turned back to the other guys and continued angrily. "We will split up into teams of two, and hunt down… whatever did this."

The one and the mean-looking one went together, while Bill and Sam stuck together. Sam and Bill went down one alleyway while the other two went the one opposite.

Both Bill and Sam were silent as they snuck down their alleyway. The sun continued to lower into the horizon, providing only the dimmest of lighting. Most other hunters now were asleep in their trailers, the married ones with their wives, aside from the six of them. Bill was sweating. He was thinking about Scott's injury. Scott was usually very good at wrestling. He beat a bear to death once with his bear hands. And yet, here he got a huge wound on his arm, and a clunk on his head. Whatever they were dealing with here, Bill knew it was not going to be an easy fight. Sam on the other hand, was so calm about the situation, he was running his mouth.

"Ahh, don't sweat it, Bill." He says. "You're with me here. I'm the –I say- I'm the sharpest set-o-ears and eyes you kin ask for, pal. Ain't no sneaky, stealthy, back-stabbin varmint gonna get me off guard! No sir!"

While Sam was ranting on about his ego, Bill was trying to ignore him, and stay on lookout for the creature. Unknown to both of them, a shadowy wolf figure was just on top of a trailer, watching them. The figure was thin, and had a big snout.

Suddenly, the figure pushed a cinderblock from on top of the trailer onto Bill's head. Bill felt the sharp thud on his scalp, and his body drops, and then felt his head become lighter as his vision started to darken. The last thing he heard before passing out was Sam's annoying voice saying "Bill? Bill! Buddy?"

Sam looked up and saw the shadowy beast. He immediately took out his revolvers, and started shooting at it like a madman. "You rascally itchin' varmint!" He cursed. But the beast was too quick. It jumped off too another roof, then down into a cluster of trashcans.

"You think you can hide from me, varmint?" Sam said tauntingly. He seethed his revolvers and took out a stick of dynamite. He then took out a match and was about to light it when a long pipe snuck up from behind him, and a gust of air blowing from the pipe blew out the match.

Frustrated, Sam walked over to the edge of the trailers, thinking he would be out of range of the pipe. He lit the fuse again, and was about to throw it into the trashcans, when the pipe extended even further toward him and blew it out again.

Furious now, Sam ran all the way out of the camp until he was back right by the woods. He lit the stick there, and started running back towards the camp to kill the beast. However, by the time he reached the trailers again, the fuse ran out, and the dynamite exploded, blowing Sam to smithereens. "I got your back, Salty." Humphrey whispered to his friend from across the alley.

Meanwhile, the glasses hunter had just brought Scott to his trailer and put him to bed. He was just heading out of the trailer and closing the door, when he noticed a dark shadow just under his feet. He let out a small scream before trying to grab his knife quick, but by then, the creature had time to run off and disappear under another trailer.

On the verge of panic, the hunter grabbed for the sniper rife on his back and held it at the ready. He looked over under the trailer, and thought he saw the creature down there. He looked through his scope to get a better view, but when he did so, he saw only a long row of razor sharp teeth from a set of jaws that opened for a slight growl. As the hunter screamed, his glasses fell off his head, and broke as it hit the ground.

The tall hunter and the mean-looking one were all that were left. The tall one was armed with a double barrel shotgun, the mean one with an automatic one. They both were tiptoeing over through their alleyway, the mean one in the lead.

Suddenly, two pairs of paws reached out from under a trailer, and each seized one of the tall guy's ankles. He screamed in panic, and called for his alley, but before he could be saved, the paws brought him to the ground, and pulled him under the trailer to the other side.

The Mean one tried to run over to the other side of the trailer, but took too long with it, and by the time he made it, his friend had disappeared. Now there was no one left for the creature to take except him!

Out of the corner of his eye, the hunter saw a bushy, grayish tail move around the corner of the trailer. He screamed like a mighty warrior, and shot at the corner like there was no tomorrow. After a second, he realized he must not have hit it, and moved onward. He was panicking now. The beast could strike him from anywhere. He suddenly saw a dark, though somewhat reddish-furred shadow jump across the rooftops of the next few trailers, and shot at it.

All his shots missed, amazingly. The creature was too quick for him. And as it jumped down and ran away even faster, the hunter saw another shadow skid across the path right in front of him. He fired his weapon like a madman more at the ground, even after the creature had long since disappeared, then, out frustration and craziness, he aimed is gun into the sky, and emptied his magazine into the sky until finally, he heard the clicking sound that he was out of bullets. He knew any second now, the beast would finish him.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" He screamed as loud as he could at the trailers. "_WHAT_ ARE YOU?

Suddenly, as if on cue, Humphrey jumped down from the trailer roof in front of him, wearing the black sock over his head like a mask, with holes torn in it for the eyes and snout. He had a brick in one paw, and leaned on the hunter's shoulder with the other.

"I'm Batman!" He hissed before bringing the brick down on the already paralyzed hunter's head, knocking him down and out cold.

Garth, Shakey, Salty and Mooch came out from behind different hiding spots in the camp after that and applauded Humphrey. Garth took off a black vest he had on, Shakey and Salty each ripped off the black pants they had tied around their necks, and Mooch took the black under where off his head.

The first thing they did then was laugh hysterically at the prank they had just pulled, exchange high-fives, and comment on all the moves they each used. After a few minutes, the laughter died down a little, and then Garth was the first to speak.

"Wow! That was fun! Now, how about we get out of here before the other hunters wake up?"

"Not yet." Said Humphrey. "There's just one more think we need to do."

"What?" Asked Shakey.

"There's something we need to get from inside a trailer…"

Next, we see the wolves sneaking into a well-decorated trailer with lots of priceless objects in it, and with a hunter and his wife sleeping beside each other on a king-sized bed. Each wolf took an edge of their blanket in their jaws, and worked together to pull it off the sleeping couple.

"Margaret, do you feel a draft?" groaned the husband.

"We'll worry about it tomorrow dear." His wife replied, still asleep.

Quietly, the wolves dragged the heavy blanket outside. Once they were out, they started folding it up and tying it around Mooch.

"What do we need a heavy king-sized blanket for, Humphrey?" Asked Garth, sounding a bit nervous.

"Something we'll be doing later tonight." He replied

"What?"

"It's a surprise."

"Well, these humans aren't going to be happy that we stole their blanket, you know."

"Don't worry. We'll bring it back as soon as we're done with it, if it makes you feel better."

"Well, okay I guess…" Garth still thought this was a bad idea. "Can we go now?"

"Wait, one last thing." Humphrey said, quietly, looking over at the camp fire the hunters had gathered around earlier. The teenage human girl was still sitting there in her chair, still sound asleep. Humphrey started walking over towards her.

"Humphrey, what are you doing?" Garth asked sarcastically, as if he didn't already know.

"It's okay Garth." Said Shakey, putting up a paw to hold him back. "Humphrey knows what he's doing. Let him have his next moment."

Humphrey came up right in front of the human girl. She glowed beautifully in the fire. Humphrey suddenly arched his body over hers, and brought down his snout onto her lips, and starting licking her lips along with that. She started giggling, as it must have tickled, or maybe she was having a dream that she was making out with her boyfriend. "Mark, stop it, you dog you!" She put her arms around Humphrey, and hugged him close to her, as they continued to kiss.

The other wolves were staring at them in disbelief. "I don't know if this is beautiful, funny, gross, or disturbing." Mooch said.

"I'm with Mooch on this one." Said Salty.

"Dito." Shakey managed to say.

"This isn't going to end well." Said Garth.

And he was right. Right there, the girl suddenly woke up, looked right into Humphrey's face, and screamed so loud you could probably hear it from Alaska. She punched Humphrey away from her, then screamed "Dad, Dad, there's a dirty wild wolf here kissing me! Kill it! Kill it!"

Of course, this woke up the rest of the camp. Hunters came running out of their trailers, a lot of them in their pajamas and underwear, guns in hand. One hunter ran over to Humphrey, and cut off his quick escape back into the woods, so he ran over to the rest of his friends instead.

"Can we leave now?" Garth asked sarcastically

"Yes!" Humphrey shouted in response.

The five wolves took off across the camp, working hard to dodge any bullets that were being shot, trying to stay away from any large masses of hunters or trailers where the doors were being opened, and dashing under some trailers, through trashcans and garbage piles.

Finally, they were out of the camp, and just a short distance away from the trees. "Wait a minute." Exclaimed Shakey, "this is the bear trap field! We're trapped! We can't cross though here!"

"We have to. There's no other way." Hissed Garth. And with that, he leaped forward into the field, almost setting off a trap, but he was quick and managed to pull his feet out of the way just in time. He dodged all the flying, snapping traps, and was nearly home free near the edge of the forest again.

Humphrey jumped in after him, followed by Shakey, then Salty, and Mooch. Just as Mooch was heading out, the hunters have caught up and were now shooting their guns at the escaping wolves. They dodged the bullets, and the snapping traps. Until finally, they made it to the edge of the field, and disappeared behind the trees again.

Finally back to safety, the hunters gave up and went back to their trailers to sleep. First, the wolves took a second to catch their breaths, then burst out laughing again. When they started to die down again, Garth walked up to Humphrey, anger flaring in his eyes.

"I have two things to say to you, buddy boy!" he hissed. Humphrey looked shocked at how Garth had become so angry so suddenly. "First, Humphrey, you are the craziest wolf I have ever met or heard of!" His laughter and smile seemed to return some after that. "Second, I hope you enjoyed everything we did over there, because we are NEVER doing it again!

"Oh, I enjoyed it alright!" Humphrey laughed, and everyone started laughing again.

"Well, it seems you boys have had some fun over there." They heard Marcel say as he and Paddy hovered down from the trees.

"We sure did, Marcy." Exclaimed Shakey. "You guys missed one heck of a show!"

"Fascinating. You'll have to tell us all about it. I admit, we were very worried when we heard some of the noises that came from here." Said Paddy.

"Don't worry." Humphrey replied. "We'll tell you the whole thing, on our way to the next activity!"


	5. Chapter 5: Relaxation and Bonds

The party was now trudging along through the woods, all still laughing about how their last adventure in the hunters' camp had gone.

In the last half-hour, they had quickly returned to the dens, and dropped off the blanket they had "borrowed" from the hunters. On the way, they had also ran into Janice and Reba, and gotten more punch from them, which Paddy was now carrying. He did not mind, after all, he was a caddy, and carrying things is what he is paid for (if Marcel pays him).

The sun was now setting, lighting up the sky in beautiful shades of red and orange, followed by an encroaching shroud of dark purple and blue. The sun struggled to maintain its glow on the valley while the shadow it cast from the mountains grew longer and wider. Crickets could now be heard, and a few fireflies would be buzzing around. It was a very beautiful time of day, but Humphrey and the gang were too busy talking and laughing about the camp adventure to pay much attention to it.

"And then Garth and I reached from under the trailer," Mooch grinned, "and then grabbed the tall guy, and pulled him under!"

"Yeah! And then we stuffed him into the trash can!" added Garth, high-fiving Mooch. "that was epic!"

"And then Humphrey with the pipe! You saved Salty's butt back there!" said Shakey.

"Yeah, thanks man!" Salty said.

"Of course bud." Replied Humphrey coolly. "You would have done the same for me."

"Uhhh, oh yeah right! Absolutely! Sure thing." Salty stuttered.

"Oh my, what a show. I do very much wish I had seen it myself." Chuckled Marcel.

"And Batman! HA!" Paddy laughed. "Where did that come from?"

"Oh you know, I've just always wanted to say that." Humphrey replied.

Their laughter slowly died down after a while, and Marcel finally spoke up again. "I do have one question, though, Humphrey: Why did you kiss that human girl? Surely your fiancé would not have liked that."

"Well, I've always wondered what it would be like to kiss a human, and now I finally did."

"And, what's it like?" Asked Shakey.

"Well, it's a pretty thrilling experience. Kind of tickly too." Humphrey replied. "Still, it pales in comparison to kissing Kate" finishing off more cheerfully, and remembering how beautiful the love of his life is.

"Well, I'm just glad nobody got hurt." Garth commented. "And we sure showed those hunters a thing or two about messing with us!"

"Yeah! We sure showed them!" laughed Shakey.

"Alrighty then!" Paddy carried on as he took out the list. "That takes care of torturing hunters." He crossed out 'torture hunters' with his charcoal pencil. "Next, it says 'hot springs'."

"Oooh!" all the omegas ooohed in unison.

"You guys know some good hot springs we can go to?" asked Garth, confused.

"Yep. Up in a little plateau in the mountains." Answered Salty.

"The mountains!" exclaimed Garth as he jumped in front of the party to stop them. "Hold on! The hunters I was somewhat okay with, but the mountains are cougar turf! If we get caught up there, there will be a lot of trouble!"

"Relax Garth." Humphrey cooed. "The cougars don't know about the place we go to. We're safe, don't worry. It's all good!"

"Okay, if you say so." Replied Garth uneasily. And so the party continued onward to the hot springs. On the way, Garth spoke up to Humphrey again.

"Humphrey, you know these are a lot of bad choices you've been making today, right?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"The only reason I've been standing by you on them is because you're my best friend. You know that, right?"

Humphrey stopped for a minute, surprised at what Garth had just said. He knew that he and Garth had become better friends in the last few weeks, but he did not know they were _that_ close. But then again, they were brothers-in-law now, and similarly brothers in that context.

"Oh, right." Humphrey said after a second, snapping back to reality. "Well thanks." And with that, they all continued on to the springs.

Humphrey still kept this issue with being best friends with Garth on his mind. He remembered the horrible start they had gotten off back before the packs united, and now, in just a few short weeks, they were Best Friends? It just did not feel right to him.

Besides, Shakey was Humphrey's best friend. Shakey was always there to help Humphrey with his problems. Salty and Mooch were great guys too, and they also helped Humphrey when he needed them, but they did not understand him quite as much as Shakey did. When Kate was away at Alpha School, Shakey always tried to help Humphrey cope and keep his mind off of her.

_Then again, I guess there's nothing wrong with having more than one best friend,_ Humphrey thought. _I guess I can't really place one of these guys above the others. They're all around for me when I need them, and that's why they're all here with me tonight. _

Garth was still and Alpha, and normally did not socialize with the lower Omegas, and here he was now, saying Humphrey was his best friend, that he is a member of his little clique. _Well, he has been hanging out with us a lot since the packs united, when he's not off on his Alpha duties or being with Lilly, at least._

_I guess we are all a clique, the seven of us. Me, Shakey, Salty, Mooch, Marcel, Paddy, and Garth. We're all buddies, amigos, musketeers, amis. We're a club, a team. A secret society! And nothing can separate us! Nothing! _

Another few minutes, and finally, they were up the top of a small hill rising up between the mountains, forming a slight canyon. And up at the top, the team came up to the place that Humphrey and his friends knew so well, but Garth, Marcel and Paddy were new to.

They had come to a huge basin-like area of mountain, with the rocks of the mountains forming a rim around the area, keeping it encased like a big room. And across the snow-covered "room" were small hot springs and geysers. Each filled with greenish, murky, bubbly water, with warm, humid clouds of steam rising from them. This steam clashed with the cold air of the mountains, make the room feel warmer than cold.

"Alright then. We're here." Paddy remarked at last, setting down the punch cups he was carrying. "Now let's chill!" he hovered over to a hot spring.

"NO NO! WAIT! PADDY! DON'T! PADDY!" The wolves all shouted after him, but it was too late, Paddy gently fluttered down until one webbed foot touched the water. Right then, his eyes widened as a searing pain instantaneously shot through his body from his foot.

"YEOW!" His scream was heard all throughout the mountains.

And it just so happened that right at that moment, Oscar and two other cougars were up on one of the nearby mountains, stalking a condor. They were on the edge of the mountain on a narrow walkway, hiding in the snow, with the condor on a rock. Just as they were about to pounce, Paddy's scream echoed through the mountains. While the cougars turned away for a second, the condor got startled and flew away.

"Oh, Come on!" whined Oscar angrily, as he stood up and threw down a fist. Almost immediately, the other cougar with the lighter brown fur started rolling on the floor giggling hysterically. "Shut up Pete!" Oscar snapped at him.

All the wolves heard Paddy's scream echo down in the valley. In the Alpha den, Kate and Lilly, who were putting on berry juice as make-up, heard it.

"What was that? What that a wolf?" Lilly asked, startled. She thought it may have been a wolf howling (really badley).

"That wasn't any wolf I know." Kate replied suspiciously. "It couldn't have been Garth right? His howl's gotten much better, right?

Her sister nodded. All of a sudden, their mom peeked into the den. "Girls, rehearsal's in five minutes."

"Yeah Mom, we'll be ready in a second." Said Kate.

As Eve slipped away, Lilly finished putting red marks down her muzzle and asked "Why are we doing this again?"

"I told you. I wanted to do something special for Humphrey. I wanted to do this for him. I think he'll like it. It will also be good for me. Last chance I have to be eye candy for all the other boy wolves, you know? Hey can you help me with my flower?"

Lilly took the pink flower in her mouth, and slipped it into her sister's mane.

"Besides, you'll be showing off for Garth."

"Oh, right." Lilly blushed a little.

"You ready, let's go." And the sisters walked together out of the cave.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the hot springs, Paddy was hopping around holding on to his burnt foot.

"We tried to warn ya." Humphrey commented. "All these geysers, if you sit in them, they'll boil you alive."

"Yeah." Shakey put in. "The only safe one is that pool under the waterfall over there." And he pointed to the rock wall with a cataract waterfall tricking down into a big pond.

The water came from what must have been a stream up at the top of the rock wall, and that stream must have been more hot water from the springs, as it was still steaming from the top. The pond itself was steaming almost as much as geysers, but not quite as much, so the water must have been warm.

"It would have been nice if you had told me that earlier." Grumbled Paddy as Marcel finally brought him a stick he could use as a crutch.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Humphrey apologized awkwardly.

Everyone headed over to the pool. Humphrey was the first to enter. He slid his hind legs in first, and was careful not to step on any loose rocks as he did so. The water first seemed to burn through his fur, but after a second, his skin adjusted to the heat, and embraced it, and he sunk deeper into the water until finally he was up to his shoulders, and laid back against the side of the pool. "Come on in. The water's great!" He beckoned his friends.

Garth first felt the water with his front paw to check and see if it safe, and when it did not burn him, he slipped in front first, and doggy paddled to turn around and sit up next to Humphrey. Shakey came in next to Garth. "You know, it's a good thing to just sit back and relax after a big day of partying, don't you think?" He said.

Then Salty scooched in next to Shakey, then Marcel, who snuggled in comfortably. "Sit in here for too long and I'll be a roast goose." He chuckled.

Paddy passed out to everyone their punch cups before getting in with everyone else. He first carefully dipped in his good foot in before getting all the way in, not wanting a repeat of the last time. Finally, he slowly climbed in, gritting his beak in pain as the water burned his burnt foot, but after a minute, the pain settled, and seemed to make his foot numb, so he managed to sit comfortably.

"CANNON BALL!" Mooch shouted as he jumped into the water. His friends had but a second to shield their faces against the splash. When Mooch resurfaced, he looked over at everyone who was dripping with the warm water. First, they all looked annoyed with him, but then Humphrey started laughing, and soon everyone joined in, and they all started laughing again as Mooch slid up into his spot in between Humphrey and Marcel.

The party sat in the pond for a about another hour, just chatting, letting the steam and heat soak into their pours, and drinking their bitter sweet punch. They told jokes, talked about some funny experiences in their pasts, and sang songs (once the punch started getting to their heads). Until finally, Garth finally brought up a more serious conversation.

"Okay, so you know how my dad and Winston want me to become the new alpha male after they retire?" He started, followed by everyone nodding. "Well, I've been thinking. I'm probably going to need some help running the whole big pack, so I'll just be the true leader as a figure head, and I'll also have a group of other wolves who help me out with ideas and decisions and things."

"You mean like a council?" asked Shakey.

"Yeah, that's it! A council!" exclaimed Garth. "Now because she's my mate, Lilly will definitely have a place on it. And I know Kate was suppose to be my mate before, and Winston wanted her to lead the pack, so she's going to be on it also."

"And hey, that means Humphrey will be on it too, right?" Salty suddenly asked.

"Of course." Garth replied as he turned to Humphrey. "How does that sound?"

"Huh, what?" Humphrey must have been thinking about other things, as he was obviously not paying attention.

"You get to be a member of my council. Does that sound cool?"

"Uhh, yeah, sure. Fine." Humphrey replied, showing little interest in the topic. Garth noticed this and his smile started to fade. He was about to ask what was on Humphrey's mind when Salty popped up again.

"Hey Garth, can I be on your council?"

"And me?" asked Mooch, joining in.

"Ummm. Well, there certainly is something valuable about you guys. I'll think about it." Said Garth, hesitantly. He had not thought of a having omegas as silly and playful as Mooch and Salty on the council, but he did not want to hurt their feelings.

Just then, Humphrey took his tree stump cup, chugged down the rest of the punch that was in it, then threw the cup behind him, and it landed with a clunk on the ground. "I'll be right back guys." He said sullenly as he turned around and climbed out of the pool.

"Where are you going Humphs?" Shakey asked, concern suddenly filling his voice.

"I just need a second to clear my head." Humphrey replied as he shook himself dry, then patted his fur down again. He walked away, and started hopping up a few rocks up to the top of the wall, and seemed to stare out at the horizon.

"What could possibly clear your head more than a cup of punch and a dip in a hot spring with your best buds?" Shakey asked Garth.

"I'm going to go check on him." Garth said as he got out of the pool himself. As he did so, Mooch, Salty, and Marcel were all arguing about why Marcel could not be on the council.

"I'm quite responsible, and can prove to be a most valuable asset I assure you." Snapped Marcel. "I have knowledge on nearly all of Canada and North America, as I have traveled all around those places. One day, you will come to me, seeking my knowledge and assistance, just as Humphrey and Kate have!"

"We appreciate everything you did for them, but I keep saying it, it's a _wolf _council, and _you're_ not a _wolf_!" argued Mooch.

"UGH! You are so stubborn!" huffed Marcel.

"Umm, more punch, sir?" Paddy squeaked, trying to ease the situation.

"Ahh yes, thank you Paddy."

Humphrey, with a cool breeze blowing through his fur and into his face, was staring off at the beautiful sunset. The sun had sunk about halfway into the horizon, stretching its reddish-orange glow only a short distance outward through the sky and across the ground. The purple and blue darkness shrouded everything else, with many stars glittering the sky. Humphrey knew it was only a matter of minutes before the sun completely set.

Suddenly, he felt a warm, heavy, and damp paw rest on his shoulder, and he turned around startled to face Garth.

"Whoa, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." He apologized, withdrawing his paw quickly.

"No, It's fine. Don't worry." Humphrey replied quickly, and then turned back to the sunset.

"What's wrong?" Garth asked, as he sat down next to his friend.

After a quick sigh, Humphrey answered in a saddened tone. "We were just talking about your council and making big decisions for the pack, right? Well I guess that's in store for me when I finally settle down with Kate, and take up the responsibilities of a beta. And then I won't have much time to goof off with Shakey, Salty, Mooch and you. I won't be 'Humphrey, the fun-loving, peace-keeping Omega' anymore. I'll be someone completely different."

Garth frowned at this whole idea for a second. "I know how you feel. Between my alpha duties and being with Lilly, I hardly have time for the things I want to do. And trust me, my dad doesn't give me a lot of freedom as it is. He he." He started to laugh at the joke he made about his father, but Humphrey only smiled at it.

"But I'm still Garth, the handsome, fitness –loving, action-ready Alpha, aren't I?" And he jumped up on a rock and posed in like he did in his first shot in the film to prove it. "My marriage hasn't changed me that much. I mean it's not like you're going to change into a completely different wolf, Humphrey."

"That's right." Said a voice from behind them. Both turned to see Shakey coming up the rocks, his punch cup in his right paw.

"And you don't have to worry about not having as much time to be with us. The seven of us Humphrey, we're friends for life! Times might be changing, things might be getting busier in the pack, and we all may move on with girls, but we will ALWAYS stick together. We will ALWAYS be there for each other. Kate is hot, but even she's not going to come between us, right!"

"That's right." Humphrey said more confidently, his spirits restored. "Thanks Shakey. Thanks Garth." Humphrey smiled at his friends and they smiled back.

The sun began to sink a little bit more into the horizon. Humphrey stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked out at it again. And then, he started to Howl. His deep, strong, beautiful howl filled the air.

Garth and Shakey both looked at him, confused why he decided to howl suddenly. "Humphrey." Garth said, interrupting the howl. "What are you doing?"

"Oh come on guys, howl at the setting sun with me." Humphrey continued to howl.

It would feel weird howling at the sun rather than the moon, but at last, Shakey walked over, sat next to Humphrey, and joined in on the Howl. His howl was relatively similar to Humphrey's just a little lighter. And after a second, Garth joined in, and brought his much lighter, and ever so elegant howl into the chorus.

Down in the pool, Salty and Mooch were relaxing, when they heard the howling.

"They're doing a friendship howl without us!" exclaimed Mooch, irritated.

"They're probably waiting for us right now. Come on!" Salty leaped out of the water and started hopping up the rocks to join his friends, and Mooch followed.

"Marcel, sir, should we join in with them in the howl?" Paddy asked Marcel.

"Nah, I think this is a wolf friendship, group thing. Let's let them have their fun. They still consider us members of their clique, don't they?" Marcel humbly replied. He was softened by the punch, and was on the verge of going to sleep.

Salty and Mooch got to the top of the wall, and joined in the group with their howls. Both of theirs were surprisingly light. Still they were beautiful, and would have complimented a lighter howl had there been one there.

The five wolves howled together in unison, strong and long, their song sung with pride. They continued onward until at last, the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and with it, its red and orange light, leaving Jasper with the beautiful night. They poured all their love and affection for each other into that howl, filling the air with emotion. They howled as long as their voices would let them, only stopping every once in a while for a breath. They wanted this moment together to last as long as it could.

When at last their voices ceased, they all stayed quite for a moment to let the moment sink in. At last, Humphrey spoke up.

"Thanks guys, Thank you so much for being there for me, all of you. I'll never forget this one moment we've shared here."

"You won't forget anything else we've been through today, will you?" asked Shakey.

"Not in a million years. This was a great day we've had together. One of the best days of my life."

"And, the party's not over yet, Humphrey." Garth said cheerfully. "Now, we need to get back to the rest of the pack for your big moonlight howl party!"

"YEAH! Bring on the party!" shouted Salty, and all of a sudden, the wolves all went back to their wild, laughing stages they were in on the way to the springs. They started heading down the rock wall.

"Marcel, Paddy, come on, we're leaving." Garth called to the birds.

"Now?" Complained Marcel. "Can't we stay a few more minutes? I really have gotten comfortable here."

"No, now sorry. We're probably late already."

"Late for what?"

"For our next activity I assume." Paddy spoke up. "The list says that now there's a moonlight howl." He took out the list to show Marcel, and at the same time crossed off "hot springs" with his charcoal pencil.

Marcel grumbled as he got up out of the water, and shook his feathers dry. He then helped Paddy out, whose foot was still hurting a little, and then passed him his crutch. Then they flew off to catch up with the wolves.


	6. Chapter 6: The Moonlight Howl

After they had rushed away from the mountains, they quickly stopped again at the small pond that Salty, Shakey and Mooch washed at, and quickly washed off whatever punch had stained their fur and feathers. Everyone wanted to look their best for this howl, especially Salty and Mooch, who were still single.

By the time the party had arrived at the howling rock, a waxing gibbous moon had risen high, giving the night a bluish glow, and several wolf couples had already taken up platforms and landings. They were all busy dancing together, and filling the air with their graceful howls. Alphas, Betas, Gammas, and Omegas, all were cutting loose side by side.

"Great." Sulked Garth. "I knew we were going to be late."

"I told you guys we should have taken sled down the hill on that log we found!" hissed Mooch in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Sorry. I was too relaxed to really focus on log sledding." Replied Salty calmly. "And I was feeling a bit dizzy from the punch."

"Guys, guys relax." Said Humphrey, everyone turning to him. "No one cares if a few guys are late."

"Yeah. And we made it in the end, didn't we?" added Shakey. "Everything's good."

Everyone calmed down, and continued to walk up the path, up the rock, past a few dance platforms that were already taken. There were still plenty open, but first they had to find someone to dance with. Soon enough, the rest of the pack started piling in.

"So, what should we do sir?" asked Paddy

"Well, since we're not really trying to pick up any girls, wolf, goose or duck," Marcel replied, I guess we should maybe go find a place to "howl" ourselves." He turned back to the wolves. "We'll catch up with you boys later."

" 'K. See ya." Called Humphrey as everyone waved later to the birds.

"Don't dance too close to the other wolves. They might be tempted to eat you!" Garth called after them.

"We better listen to Garth's advice, sir." Paddy whispered as they waddled away, Paddy balancing on his stick crutch, for his foot still hurt.

"Ah yes, most definitely. And who knows; maybe we'll see Janice and Reba again and get some more of that delicious punch."

"Well, I believe they said they were going to brew as much as they could for this howl last we saw them. But you might want to take it easy. You don't want to drink too much."

"Thanks for the concern Paddy, but don't worry. I've drunken more wine in my life than you probably have. If I can handle a full human glass of Beaujolais-Villages Appellation d'Origine controlee, surely I can handle a few more shots of this punch."

* * *

"You guys see Kate?" Humphrey asked as the five friends all looked off at the incoming crowd of wolves.

"Nope, sorry." Replied Garth sadly. "Anyone see Lilly?"

"Nope. How about Janice? Or Reba?" asked Shakey.

"Guys, we don't see any of your mates!" snapped Salty. He was frustrated because he was being reminded that he was still single, while his three closest friends all had mates. At least he still had Mooch to share his pain.

"Anybody seen five smoken' wolf boys?" asked a voice from under their rock. And just then popped up a black, shaggy head.

"MILO!" everyone exclaimed. Garth was the first to jump down from the rock and give his friend a hug. They embraced by wrapping their arms around each other's necks.

"Great to see you buddy." Said Garth.

"Likewise mate! So where's the groom?"

"Right here." Said Humphrey as he jumped down and gave him a knuckle bump. "What's up Milo?

"Nothin' but the sky bro!" he burst out laughing.

"Hey, that's my line!"

"Oh, right. Sorry! So, how's the par-tay?"

"It's great!" Shakey joined in. "We've been all over the park today! We smoked dope flowers, beat up hunters, and went to the hot springs! Sick day! Wish you were there."

"Eh, you know. I had gamma duties. But I'm here now for the howl! Speakin' of, you guys haven't seen Chelsea, have you?"

"Right behind you." Piped up Chelsea's sweet, grown-woman sounding voice from behind Milo. He turned and saw his beautiful grey mate. "Hey Boys."

"Hey baby. How's it going?"

"Great." She stepped over to Milo and licked his snout.

"Oooh" he giggled. "Sounds like someone's ready to howl!"

"Hey Chelsea, have you seen Kate?" Humphrey asked.

"-Or Lilly?" asked Garth.

"-Or Janice?" asked Shakey.

"Well, all three of them are up on the rock somewhere." She replied.

"They're already here?" asked Humphrey surprised. "How long have they been here?

"Me and they have been here for the last hour. You see Humphrey, we have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? Really? Will I like it?"

"I think so."

"Enough small talk." Said Milo, cutting in. "We have some rock to cut, Chelsea!" He gave her a playful nudge, making her giggle and futz a little. "Hot Dog!" He exclaimed. "We'll catch up with you guys later."

"Okay. Later." Garth answered as they all waved away to the happy couple. Humphrey then spoke up.

"Okay, so Garth, Shakey, I say we should go find our mates, and howl with them. Salty, Mooch, how about you guys stay here and try to pick up some girls?"

"Sounds like a plan to me! Game on!" answered Salty.

"Okay." Nodded Mooch. "We'll catch up later."

As the other three walked off together, Salty was the first one to start talking. "Okay, Mooch. Ready to get some girls? You know, now that the whole 'Alpha-Omega' law is passed, we can finally hit on alpha girls!"

"So, you've thought of better pick up lines than just 'hey', right?"

"Uhhh, not really." Replied Salty. "But I'm not to worried about the pick-up lines."

"Oh, we're gonna die… alone."

"Relax, we'll be fine! Here, I'll go try hitting on some first." Salty knew he probably wasn't going to do too well, but he wanted to try to get Mooch's spirits up. So he spotted three good-looking alpha girls coming up.

He jumped down and pranced over to them in a showy way. "Hey", he said in a cool, confident voice, and giving them a steely gaze.

"Hey." replied the peach-furred girl on the right. The other two alphas, one brownish, one grey, both looked at Salty, then their friend, like they both had rancid breath (Salty probably did).

This reply caught Salty off guard. He was not expecting any of them to stop, let alone say "hey" back.

"I, umm, I'm Salty." He stuttered. His name was all he could think to say. Inside, he cursed himself for not thinking of something better to say.

"Hi Salty, I'm Lola." The peach one still smiled at him, while the other two rolled their eyes and huffed.

"Uhh, lovely night, don't you think." He went on, desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, I guess." Lola replied, her smile started to fade. _Oh no, I'm losing her!_ Salty thought to himself. He was probably sweating now.

Mooch saw his friend in trouble, and hopped down right next to him, drawing the girls' attention "Ask her to howl." He whispered to Salty.

"Umm, so, wanna howl?" Salty suddenly blurted out.

"Sure." Lola replied as she walked over to Salty, her smile returning.

"Wait, you sure you wanna go with _this_ guy?" Asked the brown alpha, stopping Lola.

"Sure. Why not? I mean he's kind of cute." She turned and whispered back.

Salty, who overheard what Lola said, felt his heart leap out of his body for a split-second. "She thinks I'm cute!" he whispered in loud, yet soft, jittery voice. Mooch grinned, and held out his paw for a down low five, which Salty happily slapped.

"And how would one of you two ladies like to howl with my pal Mooch here?" Salty asked the other two girls in his cool, confident voice again.

The two girls looked at Mooch, disgust on their faces as they looked at the fat omega, thinking of what it would be like to howl with him. Finally, the two walked on. "We'll see ya later, Lola." Called the grey one. "Enjoy your howl."

If Mooch was bothered by this rejection, he did not show it besides a small frown and a sigh.

"I'm sorry man." Said Salty, trying to comfort his friend. "I tried for you."

"It's ok. No prob." Mooch smiled back. "You go howl with your date. I'll stick around and see if I can get someone."

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Come on Salty." Whined Lola playfully. "Are we going to howl or what?"

"Okay, let's go!" He cheered. "We'll catch ya later Mooch."

After Salty and Lola left up the trail, Mooch was left all alone, but not for long before he heard some shouting and chanting. "One more cup… one more cup…" He heard. He looked more up on the rock, and figured out what was going on. _Oooh! Drinking games! _Mooch thought. _Well forget girls! I'm going to have some punch and join the party!_ And with that, he headed up the path to join in the fun.

* * *

Humphrey, Garth and Shakey were making their way along the path around the rock. Every few steps, they seemed to pass someone who shouted "hey" to them, gave them a high five, or slapped them on the back.

"What's up Garth?" One boy would say.

""Hi Humphrey!" a duo of passing beta girls would call out, and Humphrey responded with a wave and a wink.

"Bros! Give me eight!" Someone randomly came up and started giving the trio high fives.

One passing alpha girl even gave Shakey a small slap on the butt, making him quaver.

"Wow!" Humphrey remarked. "Ever since I've gotten engaged to Kate, I've really gotten popular in this pack."

"Make that _we've _gotten more popular." Commented Shakey, as he slapped five to another wolf passing.

"Well of course." Said Garth. "I mean you're relationship with Kate is like the second biggest thing in the pack, next to me and Lilly."

"What?" Humphrey demanded, a little offended what he said.

"Well, it's just that me and Lilly are the ones who united the packs, but you and Kate are the ones who changed the social class rule that now Alphas, Omegas, and everyone in between can mate.'

"And that's what gave Lilly and Garth the right to marry and united the packs." Shakey added, sticking up for Humphrey, and nudging his arm into his side a little. "You guys are famous now, you know? And because you're famous, that means your closest pals are famous too!"

They were rounding a bend, when just around the corner, up on a big flat rock was a certain old grey-furred wolf, holding up by the hips another wolf who's fur was just as golden as Kate's. The gold wolf's had her legs and arms stretched out like a ballet dancer. Suddenly, he set her down and started spinning and prancing around with her, just like in a ballet dance. All a while, his deep, though somewhat hoarse howl, was complimented by her light, western howl.

"Winston! Eve!" Humphrey shouted as the trio approached the pack's current leaders. This did interrupt their dance, but they did not seem to mind. Both of them smiled when they saw their two sons in law, and Shakey.

"Ahh, Humphrey, Garth." He turned to Shakey. "Umm, Shakey, right?"

"Yep! That's me!"

"Good. So Humphrey, how's the party going?"

"Awesome, Sir!" He exclaimed. "Right now we're just walking around, chilling, finding some good singles to howl with, you know?"

"I trust you had a fun day too then?"

"Yep!"

"Excellent. I don't want to keep you boys too long now. Go on, enjoy the party."

"Thanks. You guys too."

"Hey wait, have either of you two seen Kate, Lilly, or Janice?" asked Garth.

"Well, I think Janice is up with Reba at the pool, serving out punch with their squirrels." Replied Eve sweetly. "Kate and Lilly should be somewhere around. No doubt they found some handsome boys to howl with."

"What! Why would they do that?" Exclaimed Humphrey surprised. "Are they cheating on us?"

"I'm sure they would never do that." Said Winston reassuringly.

"Well, what are we suppose to do? We were going to howl with them." Said Garth.

"There will be plenty of time for you to howl together when you are mates." Winston replied, still calm. "Remember, the whole point of a bachelor party is to get some time away from your mate-to-be. So go on, howl with some pretty girls."

"Oh, right, duh." Humphrey laughed and slapped himself for forgetting. He was still not quite use to the fact that he and Kate were not married yet.

"But me and Lilly _are _mates." Garth said worryingly.

"Well Garth, you didn't get a bachelor party, and Lilly didn't get a bachelorette party." Winston replied. "So consider this that."

"Okay, I guess."

"So, come on guys!" Shakey coaxed anxiously. "Let's go find some hot babes to howl with!"

"Yeah! Right!" His two friends replied, as they started to turn to go further up.

"Hold up! One more thing, Humphrey, Garth." Eve stopped them quick. She hopped in front of them, and the grabbed both Humphrey and Garth by the ears, and pulled them in close to her.

"Now listen boys." She hissed in her threatening tone. "If either of you cheat on my daughters, you will be breaking their hearts. And if you break their hearts, I'll rip out both of yours, rip them to shreds, the feed your lifeless corpses to some hungry bears! Do you understand me?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am." The boys whimpered in unison.

"Good then." Her voice returned to that normal, sweet voice she usually speaks in. She released their ears. "Have a nice evening!" She trotted back over to Winston.

Garth and Humphrey needed a few minutes worth to breath after being seeing Eve's bad side for a few seconds.

"Oh and boys," she suddenly exclaimed. The boys slowly turned around to face her again, terrified of what she might threaten them for now.

"Did Chelsea tell you about how the girls all have a surprise for you?"

The three boys nodded in response.

"Well, we're going to be showing that surprise in about, say, half an hour from now. It will be at the center howl floor, the biggest one on the rock."

"Okay. We'll be there! Don't worry!" replied Humphrey

"See you boys there!" she called after them.

As they started walking away, Shakey was the first to start talking again. "Wow! I'm sure happy I don't have Eve for a mother-in-law." He chuckled, making fun of Humphrey and Garth's situation.

"What was that, Shakey?" shouted Eve, who must have overheard what he said.

"I-umm-uhh… I said –um- how happy Garth and Humphrey must be to have such a great mother-in-law!" Shakey quickly stuttered, and then smiled as hard as he could. He knew if he told her the truth, he was a dead omega.

"Oh. Thank you." She replied in a flattered voice.

"Eve, dear, shall we get back to our howl?" asked Winston.

"Oh, yes! Now, where were we?" The happy, old couple jumped back up onto their rock and continued with their dance while Humphrey, Garth, and Shakey high tailed it away from the before Eve exploded again.

"Okay, so, we should find some chicks to howl with, huh? That's what we should do?" Humphrey brought up when they were sure they were away from Eve.

"Yeah, sure. But I still want to howl for at least one round with Janice if we can." Said Shakey apathetically.

"But we're suppose to spend this night away from our mates. Remember?" Said Garth.

"Well, we don't have to. And I'll spend some time away from her at _my_ bachelor party. Right now, I've been away from her all day, I miss her."

"Well, Romeo," Humphrey chuckled, "Juliet awaits in that light through yonder window." He pointed up ahead.

They had come to the part on the hill where in the end of the movie, we see all the wolves tap dancing together, right before they all turn around to Humphrey and Kate up top. Right at the intersection of the paths, next to the waterfall was Janice and Reba. They must have had hundreds of tree stump cups with them, all filled to the brim and spilling their black, wet punch. They were passing out these cups to wolves lining up to drink it, with some help from their little squirrel side kicks, Lifty and Shifty.

**(Author's Note: I'm assuming that Janice is the brown-furred one, and Reba is the black one.)**

Shifty had just passed one cup to Hutch, and Reba passed one to Cando, both of whom were waiting for their punch.

"Thanks ladies." Said Candu.

"Keep up the good work." Added Hutch.

"No problem. Enjoy!" replied Janice.

As Candu and Hutch started walking away, they passed by Humphrey, Garth and Shakey. "Hey guys." Hutch said as they passed by. The trio was making their way over to Janice and Reba."

"You think we made enough punch for everyone?" asked Janice.

"Without a doubt." Replied her friend, looking down at the countless unused cups. "Just look. Everyone loves our punch. We've already given away like, what is it Shifty? Seventy-eight cups?

Shifty counted out with his tiny fingers, then nodded.

"Yeah. So I'd say we're making progress, starting to wean everyone off caribou blood. Soon maybe the whole pack will start going organic like us."

"Maybe, but probably not." Replied Janice sullenly. "It's worth a try, though."

"Hello ladies." Said a familiar voice. "May we have a few rounds?" The girls turned to face the source of the voice, Shakey, accompanied by Humphrey and Garth.

"Shakey!" exclaimed Janice as she hopped over to him, and they embraced each other. "How was your day?"

"Oh, it's been a wild day! I missed you so much!" with they started to pull out of the embrace, and then brought their snouts close together and started kissing (licking) each other's faces all over.

"Jezz! You'd think they haven't seen each other in years!" Garth whispered to Humphrey.

"They're affectionate. You do this stuff with Lilly all the time, don't you?" Humphrey replied.

"Yeah, but not with such anxiety."

Humphrey had remembered how Shakey would talk all the time about how much he and Janice were in love. He would describe how when they made out, like they were right now, he would taste the sweetest blueberries when their tongues or mouths met. That must have been a good feeling, and Humphrey was very happy for Shakey, that he had found true love just as he and Garth have.

At last, the lovers pulled away from each other, and took a second to catch their breath. "So, how's the punch selling? Shakey asked.

"Great." Replied Reba. "We've already given away about 90 cups."

"You girls have really pulled it off with this punch." Commented Garth as he took three cups from Lifty and passed one to Humphrey and Shakey each. "I'd say this is the next big thing for the pack."

"Let's just hope this doesn't turn our alphas into drunkards! Then we're in trouble!" laughed Humphrey.

Everyone got a good laugh out of that one.

"So Janice, I think you deserve a little break." Shakey said when the laughter died down. And then he continued smoothly "Wanna howl?"

Janice's smile and eyes widened, and then she ran over to Reba, and then they both screamed screams of glee, the kind teenage girls scream when they get really excited. Garth and Humphrey exchanged surprised looks at this. The kind of look Kate gave in the movie after Eve told her how to kill Garth if things got out of hand.

"Of course! I'd love to howl with you Shakey!" she responded after she and Reba had finished screaming. Then she turned back to Reba for a split second. "Can you handle the stand without me?"

"Sure. No prob. Just don't forget about that thing in about twenty minutes." She winked at Janice.

"Are you guys talking about that surprise thing that Kate, Chelsea and Eve are in on?" asked Humphrey, to which he received nodes from the two girls. "Okay, now I'm really excited to see what this thing is."

"You'll like it Humphrey, trust me." Said Janice. "You will too Garth."

"Okay, enough talk sugar!" Shakey said. "We have a howl floor to steal!" He turned to Humphrey and Garth quick. "I'll catch up with you guys later!" and with that, he and his mate started walking down past the waterfall, side by side.

"So come on, what's this surprise thing?" He asked as they started walking together to find a floor.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise." She giggled in response.

"Awww."

"Don't worry, you'll see the surprise soon. And don't worry, you'll like it as much as Humphrey will."

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Okay." He took another drink of his punch cup, then passed it to Janice, and she finished it, then set it on a stone.

* * *

"Well, we better get going, Reba." Humphrey said after Shakey and Janice left. "Hope you give out all your punch."

"Thanks guys." She smiled at them. As Humphrey and Garth started walking further up the rock, a big red-furred, black-spotted wolf, just came up the way they came and staggered up to Reba.

"Hey Babe!" he greeted her coolly.

"Hi Rocky." She responded lovingly. She noticed that his dark eyes were a bit glassy, and his head was bobbling.

"Hey, where did Janice go?"

"She went off with Shakey."

"Oh, she just! Uggh! Okay."

"How are the drinking games going?"

"Uhhhh, Great! Bobby threw up it after five cups, I took on eight, and now Mooch is up, and he's on eight I think. I came up for more cups."

"Okay, let's bring down more cups."

"For crying out loud woman! I said we need more punch!"

"And I said okay." She replied, almost shouting back at him. He obviously had too much punch. "But no more for you, and don't make anyone drink too much either.

She turned to the squirrels as they stacked up a bunch of cups for them to bring down. "Lifty, help us bring down these cups. Shifty, you're in charge of the stand until we get back."

Shifty stood straight up and saluted while Lifty climbed onto Reba's back, and they started heading down the rock, careful not to spill.

* * *

"Well Garth, guess it's just you and me now." Humphrey said as the two of them started walking together, sipping their punch every now and then.

"Yep. See anyone you want to howl with?"

"Well, I still don't know if I'd be comfortable howling with someone else. I mean I don't want to cheat on Kate, especially after what Eve said." He shuttered at the thought of her ripping his heart out.

"Forget about Kate man. Like Winston said; don't worry about cheating on her until you're actually mates. For now, just find someone you think is pretty, and go howl with her."

"Well, there's no creature on this entire planet more beautiful than Kate if you ask me."

"And I don't think there's anyone more beautiful than Lilly. But this is our time to be away from both of them, and do things we won't get to do when we are with them."

"Like howling with other girls?"

"Exactly!"

"Hey boys!" called the voice of a grown woman, interrupting them. They looked over at two beautiful looking beta girls. One was slate, and had a loose-hanging patch of black fur on her head, and the other was whitish, but somewhat grey, and had her fur worn somewhat like Lilly.

"Well hello there." Humphrey replied as he approached them. "Wanna howl with us."

"Sure." They both replied in unison.

"There we go!" Humphrey whispered to Garth. "That's one for you and one for me."

"I honestly thought I was the one who was going to have to hook us up." Replied Garth impressed.

"What's that suppose to mean.?"

"Nothing. Forget about it."

They four of them hopped over to a ledge jutting out from the trail, and looking down on the joyful howlers below. They then stood up on their hind legs. The boys each chugged the last bit of punch in their cups, then threw the cups down behind them, letting them roll down the trail.

Humphrey and Garth started howling to begin the dance. They waited a second to listen to the howlers at the top of the mountain to catch on to the song, which had a similar melody to "Do The Hustle", with all the "oooo's" being howled, and then started howling along with them. They started hopping around and spinning. The two girls started doing the same. Before long, they were doing the hustle.

Humphrey stepped two and fro with the white girl. They moved in close during some moves, his body nearly touching hers, and feeling some heat from it. He spun her around, holding her delicate paw during the side breaks, wheels, and loops. His deep, strong howl was coupled with her deep, grown, beautiful howl. His mind was not at all on Kate. It was just him and this beta right there, right then. He did look over at Garth and the slate girl every now and then, and he could tell he was experiencing the same thrills, his mind far off Lilly.

* * *

Everyone at howling rock was cutting loose in this song, going crazy with their partners, doing the hustle. Back down closer to the bottom of the rock, Milo and Chelsea were cutting loose doing the hustle themselves.

Soon, the song ended, and most male wolves found themselves holding their partners down in their arms, like how many dances end. Milo and Chelsea ended on a similar note.

"WOW! Milo." Laughed Chelsea, who was still swept off her feet. "You dance better than any beta I've ever seen."

"Thanks Hun." He smiled. "Up for the next round?"

"Ohh! You have no idea how much I want the next round!" she hissed playfully as she stood up, then got down on all fours, as did he. Then she spoke more calmly. "But it's about fifteen minutes before we show of that big surprise. I better go get ready for it. I'll catch up with you after it." She then ran walked off from their little platform, and headed off up the path toward the

"Okay." He called after her. Then he said out loud to himself "Well, guess it's time to hit the drinking games!" and he ran up the trail to the games.

On the way, he passed by Salty and Lola, who were dancing happily together on top of a flat rock. They were dancing like the first couple in the movie's first moonlight howl.

"So, you've been to a lot of howls in your life so far?" Salty asked smoothly in between howls.

"Yeah, been to a lot. I haven't been counting though." She responded after howling.

"Howl with a lot of cute boys I bet."

"Yep, a few, and some of them not so cute."

"Well, I'm one of the cute ones, right?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely."

* * *

Milo had arrived at another platform where a ton of wolves had gathered around. Each of them were chanting "Go! Go! Go! Go!" to someone in the center. As he approached the crowd, Milo smelled something really strong and foul.

"MILO!" Rocky jumped out and shouted into Milo's face. "How ya doin', Budday!"

"Uhh, hey there Rocky." Milo responded, a little creeped out. "I'm guessen' you've had some of Reba's punch?"

"You're not even, uhhh, well. Yeah. I've had at least fifteen cups! Or was it eight? Well I puked at eight, then I think I had about three more. This stuff is awesome!"

"Oh, puke. That's what smells so bad." Milo said more to himself than to Rocky. "So, who's in the middle now?" He and rocky walked over to see Mooch lying down on his back, and one wolf pouring another cup of punch into his jaws. Everyone still shouting, "Go! Go! Go!"

Finally, every last drop was poured out of the cup, and Mooch started to get up. His upper body was spinning. From his point of view, the whole world was spinning and tilting. Everything was switching between blurry, wavy or tippled, sometimes two at once or all three.

Everyone else was quite, holding their breath, waiting to see if Mooch could hold it in. Suddenly, Mooch felt a churning pain in his stomach. He began to feel his insides begin pushed up his throat. He got down on all fours, and threw up all over the ground. All the wolves watching, including Milo, all moaned and laughed and clapped.

"How many was that?" someone asked loudly.

"I think that was nineteen." Someone else answered.

"Oh, man! I don't feel so good." Mooch whined.

"You're out buddy." Milo said compassionately. He walked over to Mooch and helped him get up and walk over out of the center, careful not to let him step into the brown and black, chunky, and very stinky puddle of vomit that was lying on the ground.

"Who's Next!" Shouted Rocky. "Before anyone could answer, he turned to Milo. "How about you, Milo!"

"Alright, bring it on!" he shouted in response. "Let's boogie!"

"That's the spirit Milo!" Someone shouted, another slapped Milo on the back. Suddenly, everyone started chanting "Milo! Milo! Milo!" as Milo got into the center, again careful not to step in the puke.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the rock, Shakey and Janice were on a somewhat crowded floor (they had plenty of room for themselves, they were just sharing with three other couples), doing a dance that was a cross between the jitterbug and the tango, but mostly the jitterbug. Throughout the song, they had been doing many flashy spins, loops, dips and taps. They were so flashy, that the other couples on the floor stopped to watch them for a second. By the end of the number, they Janice first dipped Shakey down low, and then lifted him up in the air on one paw, as many tango numbers have ended. Their audience applauded their performance as Janice let Shakey down.

"Woo! You sure are a fine dancer babe!" Shakey commented as he licked Janice's snout.

"You too. But then again, I guess that's why they call you 'Shakey'." She giggled as she licked him back. By then, the other couples had resumed with the next howl.

"Another round?" He asked.

"Sorry, but it's about ten minutes before the big surprise. Time to go get ready for it." She leaned over and licked his face again. "I'll see you after it, okay?"

"Okay, see you then. And I hope I like it like you said."

"Don't worry. You'll like it!" She said as she turned off and walked up the trail to wherever she had to go.

Suddenly, Shakey saw two pretty looking alphas cross his path, one brownish and one grey. "So, who should we howl with next?" asked the brown one.

"I'll howl with you ladies." Shakey walked up to them.

The girls first looked at him spastically. The grey one was the first to respond. "Come on Abby, what have we got to loose? This little guy's cute." She started walking over to Shakey.

"Uhh! You and Lola!" the brown one, apparently named Abby, hissed angrily. "Fine, we'll dance with the midget wolf."

Shakey was a bit angered by these remarks, but he figured would calm down after a few seconds of howling. He was howling with two pretty alphas now. That was almost just as good as with Janice.

* * *

Marcel and Paddy themselves were having fun howling together, in the same place they howled at the end of the movie. Marcel had drunken about five cups of punch, and now it was going to his head. They were both howling in the same manner they were at the end of the film, only Paddy's foot still hurt a little, so he was still supporting himself on his crutch.

Suddenly, Eve came up to them from behind. "Marcel, Paddy." She said. Marcel was the first to turn around and see the big wolf in front of him.

"AHHH!" He screamed in terror. Then he started to run, but his faithful caddy, who was more sober, stopped him.

"Sir! It's okay! It's okay!" He said soothingly and calmly as he could. "It's just Miss Eve."

"Oh!" He replied, and then turned around to face Eve again. "My humblest apologies Miss Eve. I do believe I have drunken too much punch."

"Oh it's fine. I startle many creatures, even when they're sober." She giggled in response.

"So, what can we do for you?"

"Would you boys be dears and bring up these things to the top of the rock?" she asked, and then dropped down in front of them a flashlight and some large leaves of different colors.

"What for?" asked Paddy

"Well, we have a project that me, my daughters, and their friends have been working on for Humphrey and his friends, and they're about to show them the surprise in five minutes from now. I need you two to take these things, and project light on that floor over there." She pointed over to a large rock platform jutting out from a cliff. It was a lot like the cliff Garth had practiced his howling on, only bigger.

"I need you two to shine this human light stick thing on that platform there, give Kate and her friends a little spotlight. And then flash these leaves in front of the light to change the colors for effect. Can you boys do that for us?"

"Of course we will help with this project." Replied Marcel happily.

"I do have one question if you don't mind me asking." Said Paddy. "Where did you get a flashlight?"

"Oh, well Rocky has a collection of trinkets he collects from hunters the Eastern pack had beaten, and so this was in the collection so he was nice enough to let me use it."

"Oh, I see." And with that, the birds picked up the materials, and flew up to the top, and Eve ran off to find Humphrey and his friends.

She found Salty first, who was still having fun howling with Lola. "Salty, honey, it's time for the big surprise. So get your gaunt omega butt to the center platform!"

"Aww, can't I stay a little longer with Lola here?"

"No! Come to the center now! And bring the rest of your gang if you see them. Enjoy the show dear." And she walked off.

Salty turned sadly to Lola. "I'm sorry Lola. That was really cool howling with me tonight."

"Why can't I come and see this surprise with you and your friends?" she asked.

"Well it's…hmm, good point. I didn't think about that. Okay. Let's go together!" He suddenly felt much happier know he could spend more time with his date. They started walking together toward the center. "Oh, but first, we better go find Mooch. I bet he's at the drinking games."

Sure enough, Mooch was there. While everyone else was getting up and walking toward the center, Mooch was still laying down, napping it seemed. Salty and Lola approached him.

"Mooch, buddy, time to wake up." Salty whispered to his friend, while shaking and nudging him.

"Mooch slowly lifted his eyelids open, and saw four Saltys orbiting around each other. "Salty?" He asked doubtfully.

"Dude, how much punch did you drink?"

"I don't know, five, ten, fifty, a hundred cups?"

"It was nineteen cups." Said a passing omega.

"Nineteen cups?" Exclaimed Salty. "Wow! Man you're a legend!"

"I don't feel like a legend. What is a legend?"

"You really took a beating from it, didn't you?" asked Lola. "Come on." She got under one of Mooch's fore legs, or arms, and started to help him up. "Help me." She hissed to Salty.

"Oh, right." He responded. He got under the other arm, and together, they lifted Mooch up, and then started carrying him to the center.

* * *

Meanwhile, up near the top of the rock, Humphrey and Garth were just finishing the last song howling with their new friends. Garth suddenly looked down at the center, and noticed that everyone was gathering around the big howl floor.

"Hey, Humphrey. I think the big surprise is being revealed! We better get down there." He said.

"Okay." Humphrey replied. I'll see you later, Rachel." He said to his howl partner.

"Okay. Bye Humphrey." She replied and gave him a gentle lick on the nose.

Garth said goodbye to his partner, whose name was Beth, and then they both quickly ran down to the center so as not to miss the surprise.

When they got to the bottom, they ran into Eve, who had them sit down in the front, right next to Shakey, Mooch, Salty, and a pretty-looking peach-furred wolf women whom Humphrey did not know. "Enjoy the show, boys. She said to them before walking away.

"Hey Salty, who's your lady friend?" Garth asked in a look-who's-got-a-girlfriend type voice.

"Oh, Garth, Humphrey, this is Lola." He stuttered quickly. "Lola, these guys are Humphrey and Garth." He pointed to them respectively.

"I know them." She replied, though not angrily or rudely. "Everyone in the pack knows them."

Humphrey looked over at Mooch, and noticed that his eyes were a bit glassy, he was softly moaning, and his head was wobbling as if he were dizzy. "Hey Mooch, you okay buddy?" Humphrey asked.

"He's completely smashed." Replied Shakey. "He had nineteen cups of punch."

"Holy Cow!" exclaimed Garth softly.

"I know, right?"

"Think he'll be okay?" asked Humphrey, a bit worried.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He just needs a little time."

Suddenly, a bright yellow light was shined upon the floor. Everyone backed out away from it so the whole stage was clear. Some got to the sides of the stage, not just the front. Humphrey quickly looked up to find the source of the light, and saw it at the top of the rock, but could not quick make out exactly what it was.

On the floor were five shrubs, arranged into an order like an arrow pointed to the front. Suddenly, the front bush moved up to reveal a golden-furred alpha wolf, with red markings over her eyes down to her snout, and all over her arms, as though she had dressed up for some ancient native ritual or something. She also had a big pink flower in her hair, and her bright golden eyes lit up her face even more than her fur did.

_Kate!_ Humphrey screamed in his head. She seemed more beautiful than usual with that make-up. He could not help be let his mouth hang open. He looked around and noticed that many other boy wolves did the same. Some even howled for her, and called out to her. Still she tried to act oblivious to all of it. And then, she started to dance a little, with a few simple light steps, and then she started to sing.

_Turn it inside out so I can see _

_The part of you that's drifting over me _

_And when I wake you're never there _

_But when I sleep you're everywhere _

_You're everywhere _

Now, the light that shaded the floor started to change colors (Marcel was waving the leaves in front of the flashlight), first to red, then purple, then blue, then green, then orange, then back again to yellow, then repeated the cycle with red again. After a second, The second two bushes behind her revealed themselves to be Lilly and Chelsea. They each had the same markings as Kate, only they were blue. They joined in on Kate's dance as her back-up dancers, and started singing along with her.

_Just tell me how I got this far _

_Just tell me why you're here and who you are _

_'Cause every time I look _

_you're never there _

_And every time I sleep _

_you're always there _

Suddenly, right before the next verse began, the last two shrubs in the back were thrown off, revealing Janice and Reba, this time with green markings, and they added their voices to chorus.

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see _

_You're everything I know _

_that makes me believe _

_I'm not alone _

_Whoa, oh, oooh,_

_I'm not alone _

Throughout the song, they all danced together. Doing the Macarena, stepping and snapping, simply stepping, spinning, moon walking, even lightly stepping on paws and heads held out by wolves on the side, Jack Skellington style. Kate's beautiful singing voice was the most prominent of the chorus, many lines backed up by Lilly and Chelsea, with Janice and Reba providing howls in the background. Overall, it was a beautiful sound produced by the five wolves.

All the wolves on the sides continued to howl and cheer for them, though not too much as to distract them. Humphrey could not cheer. The beauty of the show seduced him. All he could do was watch his future mate and all her friends dance along to the music. Apparently, Garth, Shakey, and Milo (and possibly Rocky) were all entranced as well.

_I recognize the way you make me feel _

_It's hard to think that _

_you might not be real _

_I sense it now, the water's getting deep _

_I try to wash the pain away from me _

_Away from me _

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see _

_You're everything I know _

_that makes me believe _

_I'm not alone _

_Whoa whoa, lone_

_I'm not alone _

_I am not alone _

_Whoa, oh, oooh, oh_

Finally, right as the next verse was about to start, Kate came up closer to the front row, close to Humphrey. Paddy covered some of the flashlight with his wing, closing the spotlight on Kate more. And Marcel stopped doing the leaf effect. All the backup dancers stepped out of the spotlight. It was just Kate and Humphrey now. They were the only ones the light encircled. They were alone in the world. Kate kneeled down closer to Humphrey, and gently touched his muzzle with her paw.

_And when I touch your hand _

_It's then I understand _

_The beauty that's within _

_It's now that we begin _

_You always light my way _

_I hope there never comes a day _

_No matter where I go _

_I always feel you so _

And then she jumped back again to finish the last few verses with her back-up dancers, and Marcel and Paddy restored the flashlight's ray to its fullest, and continued with the light color effect.

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see _

_You're everything I know _

_that makes me believe _

_I'm not alone _

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I catch my breath _

_it's you I breathe _

_You're everything I know _

_that makes me believe _

_I'm not alone _

_Whoa whoa lone_

The light closed in on Kate again.

_You're in everyone I see _

_So tell me _

_Do you see me?_

At last, the song was over, and Paddy turned off the flashlight. The rock then roared with applause and howling. Humphrey, Garth, Shakey, and Milo were all sure to cheer and clap extra hard for their mates.

* * *

The moonlight howl was finally over, and the pack started to clear out of the howling rock. After the massive crowd cleared out a bit, the friends quickly split up to see their mates quick. Humphrey had told them all to meet at the pond (the one where Kate and Humphrey were taken, and the one where The Gathering took place) when they were done.

Humphrey met up with Kate somewhere on the trail.

"That was Incredible!" was the first thing he could say after they embraced each other quickly. "You and all those moves! Really! I've seen you make good moves when hunting, but dancing? That was just amazing! And don't get me started on how beautiful your singing was!"

"Thanks." She smiled. "You have no idea how many times we've rehearsed that."

"You're mom gave me a hint. Did she direct the whole thing?"

"Yep. How did you know?"

"Well, it was very well directed, but mostly because she pretty much made me and my friends come to see it."

"Would you have come if she didn't make you?"

"Of course I would have. You were in it, after all."

She smiled at him. She was happy that Humphrey was to be her mate. She loved him as much as he loved her. She had always loved, even since they were pups. She had just tried to repress and hide those feelings because of pack law, and knew that back then she would never get to be with him. She loved his funny, caring, fun-loving personality, and now that they were engaged, she took the time to see how handsome he was.

"So, you ready to head back to the den? We can cuddle up together and talk about our day."

"Uh, sorry, not yet. Me and the guys still have one thing left to do for my big night."

"You have one more thing besides after this? What could be a better way to wrap up your bachelor party than this?

"It's kind of a thing for us guys. I'd rather not talk about it too much."

Kate didn't like Humphrey keeping secrets from her. But it was his party away from her, and she respected that, so she just smiled and said. "Okay. Have fun with what you're doing. I'll be waiting when you're done."

"Okay. Good night then. I'll see you soon." They shared a kiss. Humphrey loved the feel of her smooth tongue against his snout. _Soon_, he thought to himself happily, _we'll be doing a lot worse things to each other than _just kissing.

And with that, he ran off to join his friends again. Kate started heading back to the dens to start washing off her make-up. She knew Lilly, Janice, Chelsea and Reba would catch up with her.

To Humphrey's surprise, when he got to the pond, his six friends were already there waiting for him. They were chatting about how much they liked the show, and about how sexy their mates looked. They were also complimenting Salty on how he finally got a date. He told them that he and Lola have made plans for tomorrow night to go patrolling the borders together.

Humphrey walked in to the crowd. "Pile!" shouted Shakey as he pounced Humphrey, followed by Salty, Garth, then Mooch. They all burst out laughing. Mooch was still a little drunk, but he was slowly coming too.

"Dude! You're the luckiest dog in the pack!" exclaimed Salty, "getting married to someone like Kate!"

"Well now you have Lola, Salty." Replied Humphrey.

"Oh, yeah."

"Phew! That was one sick party today, eh guys?" Garth brought up as they all got up.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "And it's not over yet." Said Humphrey.

"Say what?" said Garth, surprised.

Shakey was the next to start ranting "Humphrey, we had a big moonlight howl, howled with dozens of hot girls, drank tons of punch, and to top it off, watched all our hotter mates dance for us. What more do you want?"

"Guys, there is one more thing we need to do to make this the ultimate bachelor party, and completely top off my history of omega fun and games."

"Oh yeah, what?" asked Garth suspiciously.

"You know that thing where we like to take a broken-up log, make a sled out of it, and ride it down a big hill?"

"Yeah, log sledding." Replied Salty. "What about it?"

"Guys, the last thing we are going to do for my bachelor party is... Go to the top of Pyramid Mountain, and log sled all the way to the bottom!"

Everyone's jaws dropped when they heard this.

"He's right. It is on the list." Commented Paddy, who was holding up the party bark to-do list.

**Author's Note:**** Wow! That was long! Thank you anyone who has read this chapter through the end. It took me three days to finish this chapter. So again, thank you all my readers, supporters, reviewers, and subscribers for appreciating my work. I hope this can keep everyone satisfied until I can find the time to write the next chapter. It won't be as long, don't worry. Song credits go to "Do the Hustle" by Van Macoy and "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch, neither of which I own.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Hike

"Come on guys!" Humphrey said instigating. "If we get going now, we can probably make it to the top by morning!"

Everyone else was still in shock. Humphrey must have been out of his mind. Finally, Shakey spoke up. "Humphrey, are you crazy? We can't go up Pyramid Mountain just to go log sledding!"

"Why not?"

"Well, first of all," answered Garth "it's the center of the cougar territory. If we go up there, Harrison and his boys will rip us apart. What do you suppose we do? Go sneak past them to the top?"

"No! I have a much better idea."

"What?"

"We're going to go meet Harry face-to-face, and_ ask_ him if we can slide down. That way he won't feel like we're sneaking past him, and he won't be angry with us."

Garth almost exploded laughing. When he finally died down, Salty went on. "And you think he's going to say 'yes' to that?"

"Well, the cougars don't own the mountain."

"Uhh, technically they do."

"Well, it's worth a shot, don't you guys think?"

"What's with all the talking?" Shouted Mooch angrily. "Why are you all being so loud? Can't we just sit back and be ummm, uhhh, quiet for a uhh, yinute?" Everyone turned awkwardly to Mooch for a second. After a few seconds of the silent awkwardness the demanded, he quickly turned around and threw up all over the ground, reminding everyone that he was still drunk.

"And another thing:" Garth continued. "If the cougars don't kill us, the sled ride definitely will. I mean just look at how high and steep Pyramid Mountain is. We'll be sliding down at incredible speeds, the rocky slopes will probably shatter our log, and if we crash, which we probably will, we're dead!"

"Don't worry about the ride, Garth." Replied Humphrey still calm. "First off, the snow should cushion us against most of the rocks. Second. I have a plan."

"What plan?" asked Shakey.

"You remember that blanket we took from the hunters earlier? We're going to need that."

"Well, no matter what, I think we are up for this little ride," spoke up Marcel. "What do you say Paddy?"

"Whatever you say sir." He replied

"See, the birds are up for it." Said Humphrey.

"Well, thing is if anything goes wrong we can fly away." Replied Marcel. "I don't know about you wolves though."

"Oh, right." Said Shakey sullenly.

"Humphrey, I don't think you're thinking this through entirely." Said Garth in a calming tone, the kind of tone you use to talk to your friend when they are hysterical and you want them to calm down. "Maybe you had a bit too much punch. I say we just call it a day and go back to the dens."

"Nah! I'm fine." Humphrey replied. "I just had like, three or four cups. Mooch on the other hand, I'm a bit worried about." He pointed over to Mooch, who still had a ring of vomit around his snout, and then he turned around and threw up again.

Suddenly, Salty got an idea. "Uhh, yeah! We should be worried about Mooch. I mean, _nineteen_ cups of punch, that's a lot! I don't think he's sober enough to sled."

"We'll dunk him in the pond here a bit to wake him up." Replied Humphrey apathetically. "Besides, by the time we reach the top, he'll be well and sober again."

"Look Humphrey," said Shakey, now in a serious tone. "It's cool that you want us all to do this, but we all love our lives, and we're not going to throw them out just because you want to do something fun before you get married."

"But you guys are my friends." Humphrey asked, his spirits starting to falter. "Shakey, what about everything you said at the hot springs about sticking together and being there for each other?"

"I know I said those things, and believe me, we will always be there for you and help you when you need us, but going on a pointless suicide mission that's entirely _your_ idea? That's a bit different."

"Yeah Humphrey." Garth spoke up. "We all love you, but we have our own lives. Just look. I'm the future leader of the pack, and I want to lead the pack and keep it safe, just as my father trusts me to do so. Shakey here is getting engaged to Janice soon, Salty finally got a relationship, Mooch is still looking for one…"

"And what about us?" asked Marcel, starting to feel excluded. "There are still dozens of golf courses I would still like to tour in my time. Places I want to see. Things I want to do."

"And we both want to meet girls ourselves." Added Paddy.

Humphrey could understand what they were all getting at. They all looked at him with sad, serious faces. The faces told him that they could not come with him on this. They would not put their lives at such risk just for him. He understood that, but it seems they did not understand what was going through his mind.

"Guys, like I said before, you're all family to me. I love you guys. Do you really think I'd put your lives at risk like that? Like I said before, I have a plan. I'll explain it to you on the way back to the den. Just trust me."

"Why are we going back to the den?" asked Salty.

"We need to get the blanket, remember? So come on guys. I promise, nothing will happen to you guys, we're going to come out of this alive." And then Humphrey started to turn around and walk in the direction of the dens, glancing back to see if his friends would follow.

The other wolves first exchanged worried glances, then after a few minutes, Garth walked off after Humphrey. And then Shakey followed, then Salty, then Mooch, then Marcel, then Paddy on his crutch.

**

* * *

**

The party quickly ran back to the dens, and grabbed the blanket, which they tied around Mooch to carry. They had also stopped by the creak again and quickly dunked him in the water a few times to help wake him up, as he was still drunk. They had taken the blanket off of him for this, as Humphrey did not want the blanket to get wet. It had taken them a full hour to do all of this. By that time, the moon was at its apex in the sky, indicating midnight. Many stars were still in the sky, but many fireflies and crickets and called it a night and vanished, beginning to allow the valley to fall asleep. The party was now heading in the direction of the large mountains.

"Wow Humphrey bro. You really had me worried there." Salty was saying. "At first I really thought you were out of your mind, but now that you've explained the whole plan, I feel so much safer."

"Yeah, me too." Added Shakey.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Garth piped up, uneasiness in his voice.

"You've thought everything we've done today was a bad idea." Said Shakey, making everyone giggle.

"And I was right for everything, except the hot spring part, because no one got hurt there."

"What about me?" snapped Paddy, who was angry that Garth apparently forgot about his burnt foot.

"Oh right. Sorry."

"Hey what have we got here?" Humphrey suddenly said, as they came to a bush. Everyone listened for a second, and they could all here loud voices, singing and laughing. As they looked behind the bushes, they found the source of the noise.

Right there was a conga line of wolves, about ten of them, all hopping and kicking to the sides in sync with each other. In the head of the line was Milo, followed by Candu, then Rocky, then Hutch, and then some other wolves that the gang recognized but did not know personally. They were having their own little after-party.

They were all singing together a song that everyone could recognize:

**Milo:** _When the party was nice, the party was jumpin'_

**Line:** _Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo_

**Candu:** _And everybody havin' a ball_

**Line:** _Hah, ho, Yippie Yi Yo_

**Rocky:** _I tell the fellas start the name callin'_

**Line:** _Yippie Yi Yo_

**Hutch:** _And the girls report to the call _

**All:** _The poor dog show down!_

_Who let the dogs out (who, who, who, who)_

_Who let the dogs out (who, who, who, who)_

_Who let the dogs out (who, who, who, who)_

_Who let the dogs out (who, who, who, who)_

Humphrey was bobbing his head and tapping his paw along with the music, as was Shakey. "Man, we should have done this at the howl." Said Salty.

Suddenly, as the line was trailing past the bushes, Milo looked over and noticed the gang. "Hey guys! Come on!" He shouted over the singing and waved at them. "Jump in the line!"

"And rock your body in time!" added Candu.

Humphrey was about to jump in the line, when Garth put up his paw, stopping him. "Sorry Milo, we're having our own little after-party." He replied.

Milo gave a confused look, so he hopped out of the line, and headed over to the gang, and was soon followed by Candu, and Rocky, and then Hutch, who passed on the lead to the guy behind him.

"What do you mean your own little after party? What are you guys planning? Where are you going for it?" Milo asked confused.

"You guys think you can throw a better after party than us?" asked Candu, a slight bit of irritation in his voice.

"No, nothing like that." Answered Humphrey. "We're going to go log sledding on Pyramid Mountain."

"Oh, okay." Replied Milo, acting as though it was nothing. The other three, on the other hand, looked quite shocked.

"What about the cougars?" demanded Hutch in a worried, curious tone. "How are you going to get past them?"

"We're actually going to ask them permission." Answered Shakey, leaving Hutch with a still puzzled look.

"And do you really think you can beat those steep, scary slopes?" added Candu.

"We'll try. And Humphrey here as a plan for it." Said Garth.

"Well, okay. Good luck. Hope you guys make it out okay." Said Milo.

"Thanks. We'll see you guys after the ride tomorrow." Replied Humphrey as he and the gang all walked past the foursome, and then the line, continuing their trek towards Pyramid Mountain. Mooch followed along, still staggering.

When they had gone, Rocky spoke up. "Hey guys, I have an idea."

"What?" the other three turned to him and said in unison.

"Milo, run back to the eastern dens, get everyone who's still awake, and tell them to come out here. And tell them to bring all the meat they can carry"

"You got it." Milo replied and saluted. And then ran off towards the dens to follow his orders.

Rocky turned to Candu next. "Candu, you do the same for the western dens."

"I'm another beta you know," Candu responded angrily. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Come on, just do this. I'm asking you as a friend." Rocky replied calmly.

"Fine." And with that, Candu was off.

"We're going to have some fun when they get back here with the meat." Rocky said to Hutch with a grin.

**

* * *

**

Another fifteen minutes of walking, and the party had finally come to the foot of Pyramid mountain. The giant, tall and wide, had blocked out the moon, casting a long, dark shadow over the small portion of the valley, which had darkened the valley the last few minutes of their walk. The wolves ran their eyes up the mountain, looking at the steep, twisted slopes that they would soon have to conquer. Thankfully, they noticed that the slope flattened out at some places, somewhat resembling the more shallow slopes of the valley that they were use to. Finally, their eyes came to the top of the stretched out, yet jagged top of the mountain, high up and foreboding. They then looked down again, and noticed a small slope that seemed like a trail that started going u the mountain. That would be their starting point. They still stared at the mountain and let it's intimidating size sink in.

"Well, we're not going to get to the top by just standing here." Humphrey finally spoke up cheerfully. "Let's get going." And he headed toward the path.

Salty gulped at the immense height of the mountain, and then followed Humphrey. The other wolves must all have been thinking the same thing, as they all had terrified expressions on their faces.

"You know Humphrey," Marcel said. "Paddy and I have been walking along with you boys for most of this trek so far. If you don't mind, I think we will fly to the top and meet you guys there. Just because we're tired of walking."

"Oh, you're tired?" Paddy snapped irritated. "Try walking this far with a burnt foot!"

"Yes Paddy. I am fully aware of your condition. I'm tired now, so I can barely imagine how exhausted you must be now."

"Okay then." Replied Humphrey. "You guys go on and fly up and we'll meet up with you guys."

"Hey wait." Garth chimed in. "How about you guys take the blanket so Mooch doesn't have to?"

"I suppose it would make things easier for you boys." Replied Marcel. "I guess I should get it so you don't have to Paddy."

"I'd appreciate that, Sir." Paddy replied gratefully.

Salty was already at work untying the blanket from Mooch's back, and started folding it up into squares as small as he could.

"Say, what should we do if we run into the cougars? No doubt they will attack and devour us if given the chance." Asked Marcel, shuddering at that last thought.

"Then do what you said earlier: Fly away!" chuckled Shakey.

After everyone shared the laugh, Salty finally had the blanket folded up, and handed it to Marcel. "Now remember, don't get it in the snow. We can't get it wet." Salty reminded him.

"I promise, I will guard it with my life." Marcel replied. "Unless of course it is absolutely necessary because you know, I'm not going to risk my life for a blanket."

And so, Marcel took the blanket in his feet, flew off up the mountain, Paddy tailing right behind him. "Are you sure you've got that sir?" asked Paddy.

"Don't worry Paddy. If I can carry Humphrey around, I can handle this blanket."

The wolves watched from below as the birds flew off until Humphrey finally spoke up. "Well, we don't want to keep them waiting. Come on!" And he ran off up the path, all his companions followed as they began the dangerous part of their trek.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the valley, Milo, Candu, and all the other wolves had all joined up with Rocky and Hutch with all of their meat. However, the other wolves who were already there were still doing the conga line.

"All we need to do is get their attention and we can get this assembly started." Stated Hutch.

"No problem." Replied Rocky. He stepped forward closer to the crowd. "Okay guys, look over here quick." Of course, nobody listened to him. Why would they? They were all dancing, singing, and laughing together. Why would stop just because one person asked politely?

"Umm, hello! Over here!" shouted Rocky.

"I got this one, Rocks." Said Milo smoothly stepping forward. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and then screamed at the top of his lungs "YYYEEEEEYIEYIEYIEYIEYIEYYYEY!"

This definitely made the line stop and turn towards Milo. "Uh, Milo, why did you do that?" Hutch asked. He was both confused and embarrassed.

"Hutch, my good friend. Nothing gets people's attention more than a totally random scream in the middle of a crowd. Man, I'm good!"

"Thanks buddy." Rocky uttered, slapping Milo a high-five.

All eyes were on the four of them now, so seeing his cue, Hutch cleared his throat and spoke up to the whole crowd. "We have some news for you. Our good friends Humphrey, Garth, Salty, Shakey, and Mooch are all journeying to the top of Pyramid Mountain to go log sledding."

This aroused some gossip amongst the crowd. They mostly said things like "What are they? Crazy" or "They're going to die." "What are we going to do without Garth?" "Salty owes me a squirrel!" "I heard those birds are going with them."

"Yeah, crazy, I know." Hutch continued.

"So, anyone wanna bet that the omegas won't survive?" asked Rocky to the crowd.

"Oh, me! I bet two caribou legs that all the omegas die, but Garth and the birds survive." Announced a red-furred, white spotted wolf. He walked up with two caribou legs in his jaws, and dropped them onto the ground in front of Rocky and the foursome.

"Now whatever you bet, if you win, all the meat will be divided amongst you and whomever also bet the same outcome." Stated Hutch. "If you lose, you forfeit your meat. If you win, and you should still get more meat from the share, the four of us will pay you back when we can."

"The four of us?" asked Milo, skeptically.

"Okay, that's two legs for Torque." Said Candu, as he drew a mark in the dirt to remind everyone.

Lola spoke out next. "We bet a set of ribs on Salty and Shakey." Abby brought up the bloody ribs, and placed them in the middle."

"An entire sirloin and tenderloin say that Humphrey, Garth, and Shakey survive." Said a black wolf, bringing up his meat.

"I got a torso on everyone surviving but Mooch." Exclaimed another.

"A calf on Humphrey, Shakey, and the birds."

"I bet an entire caribou on none of them."

"Yeah, me to. Three legs on none of them."

Everyone was grabbing for their meat, and bringing it to Hutch, Rocky, Candu and Milo, and all calling out their bets on who they thought was most likely to survive, and betting against those they thought would not. The four frantically tried to keep track on all the bets being made when suddenly, Milo though of something, and turned to Rocky.

"Hey Rocky, I've just thought of something: You know how Humphrey and his friends are all going to be_ up_ _there_ on the mountain, and we're all going to be _down __here_?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So how are we going to see all the action from here? You know? How are we going to know who lives and who dies?"

"Oh, right, hadn't thought about that." Rocky admitted. He thought for a second, then snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know! Milo, you know my collection of junk I collect from the hunters we've beaten?"

"Yeah."

"Well in the junk, I think I have this thing that looks like two small tube connected together. They have holes in the tubes, covered in glass. I might have two of these devices. I don't know. Anyway, run back to our den and grab up those devices, and bring them back here. Got it?

"Roger!" and with that, Milo was off again, and Rocky went back to keeping track of the bets.

**

* * *

**

Meanwhile, Humphrey, Garth, and the other omegas were already hard at work climbing up the perilous slopes of Pyramid Mountain. The path that had started them off had long since disappeared, and now they had to scale the side of the mountain, standing up, and being very careful not to slip off the thin strip of rock they were given to stand on. Garth took the lead, followed Humphrey, then Mooch, then Salty, and ending with Shakey. Occasionally, chunks of the wall gave way and broke off, but the wolves always managed to save themselves from falling. They all kept quiet to concentrate on the trail.

Even Mooch by this point was started to become more balanced. He was finally starting to sober up, although he still threw up every now and then. Occasionally, he lost his balance and almost fell over the edge, but his friends were there to catch him and pull him back up together.

Finally, they came to a ledge not far away. It was wider, so they could actually start walking like normal again, and the moon was shining on it, so they could see better. Only problem was that it was about two yards away, and the strip of rock on which the wolves scaled ended right there.

"We're going to have to jump." Announced Garth.

"Jump? Are you crazy?" asked Mooch, shocked.

"Don't worry. We can make it." Said Garth reassuringly. "I'll go first." He carefully got down on all fours, still careful not to lose his balance and fall over the edge to his death. He crouched down quick, and then took a flying leap, and landed safely on the path. "Alright Humphrey, your up." He called back to Humphrey.

"Garth, we're not fit alphas like you." Humphrey answered nervously. "I don't think we can make this."

"Just jump. You'll make it, trust me."

"Okay…" Humphrey looked down. They had been climbing for about an hour now, and have come up so high. When he looked down, he saw the long slope of the mountain stretching down about a mile, ending with the hard ground that would shatter all of his bones if he fell and met it.

Humphrey gulped at that thought. And then he looked up again at Garth. "You can make it Humphrey!" he called. He had a look on his face, and kind, friendly look. A look that said "I won't let you fall."

At last, Humphrey took a deep breath got as close to the edge of the strip as possible, and crouched down as low as he could. "Go for it Humphrey! We're right behind you." Called Shakey from the rear. "Yeah." Insisted Mooch.

Finally, Humphrey exhaled, looked straight ahead at the ledge, and jumped. The jump seemed to last a scary, painful five minutes, but at last he hit the ledge, most of his body got on, but his hind legs did not get a good grasp of it, and he began to slip back.

Garth dashed forward and held out his paw, which Humphrey grabbed hold of, stopping himself from slipping off the ledge. "Hold on!" Garth exclaimed, and he managed to pull him up with his great alpha strength and a few grunts.

Humphrey took a breather once he was up on the ledge safely. That was truly terrifying. Had it not been for Garth, he would have fallen to his death. "Thanks." He managed to blurt out after a few breaths.

"Don't mention it." Garth replied, turning back to the other omegas. "Okay, your turn Mooch." Humphrey called over.

"Are you insane!" he shouted back in horror. "If Humphrey can barely make that, there's now way I can. I'm way to heavy!"

"Just jump out as far as you can. We'll catch you."

"Okay, I guess." And so Mooch got low, close the edge, almost lost his balance, but Salty put his paw on him from behind to steady him. Mooch still had a look of terror on his face as he crouched down and prepared to jump.

"On the count of three jump." Called Garth, trying to encourage him. "One…" Mooch did not look any less scared. Humphrey and Garth got to the edge of the ledge and held out their paws, preparing to catch him.

"Two…" Humphrey, Salty and Shakey had joined the countdown. Mooch closed his eyes and braced himself.

"Three!" "RAAAAHHH!" Mooch yelped as he jumped out as far as his legs would carry him. Only his upper body made it. He tried to cling to the ledge with his paws, but he was slowly slipping. Garth seized his left paw as Humphrey got his right, and both pulled as hard as they could, grunting as they did so.

"Come on guys, you can do it!" cheered Salty. "You got him!"

At last, with combined effort, Humphrey and Garth managed to pull Mooch up to safety.

"Phew! Thanks guys." Mooch huffed.

"What else are friends for?" smiled Humphrey.

"Me next!" called Salty with glee. He was already at the edge, crouched down, and was about to jump, seeming to blow caution into the wind, and took a flying leap.

"Whoa!" Garth cried as he ran back toward the edge of the ledge. He quickly extended his forelegs and caught Salty under the shoulders, and pulled him in onto the ledge. "Dude! Give us a bit more of a warning next time!" Garth scolded.

"Sorry." Salty stammered.

"Let's go, Shakey." Humphrey called over to Shakey, who now stood alone on the edge.

Shakey took his time scotching over to the edge, crouching down, taking a deep breath to get over his fear, and at last took a flying leap. It was a big jump, bigger than Humphrey's and Salty's were. He definitely would make it, without his friends having to catch him or pull him up. Everyone on the ledge moved out of the way for him as he landed.

"Nice jump." Commented Humphrey.

"Thanks." Shakey replied.

"Okay, we're all across, let's get going." Said Garth, walking ahead again. The path up ahead was sloping upward around the mountain. Up ahead was a bend that turned upward more. There were two large rocks on the trail on this level, large enough to hide a cougar. One closer to the wall, the other closer to the edge. The wolves walked through the gap in between them.

Suddenly, Garth's nose picked up a new scent. It was a foul smell that could only be another animal.

"Wait!" he hissed back to the others, and held up his paw, signaling for them to stop.

"What? What's wrong?" asked Humphrey. And then his nose picked up the scent that Garth's keen alpha senses had picked up before him.

"Ohh, I get it." Stated Salty, who had also picked up the scent.

And then they heard the crunch of heavy footsteps on the rock with their acute hearing. The footsteps seemed to be getting louder, and louder. It was right above them, just up around the bend on the trail above them.

"Someone's coming!" Garth whispered back to the others seriousness in his voice. The anger type of serious, not fear.

"Is it a cougar?" asked Mooch, starting to sound worried.

"I think so." Garth had been taught that he must not show fear in front of his pack, even if those who were his closest friends. He must display himself as a strong, confident, fearless leader.

"Okay guys, remember the plan." Humphrey spoke up and took a step in front of Garth. We're just going to ask him or her to take us up to Harry. No insults, no violence. Just a clean, friendly conversation."

"Okay, whatever you say." Shakey replied sheepishly. He was obviously afraid that this cougar would tear them apart. Nevertheless, the held his ground as the others did.

Finally, the large body of the cougar stepped around the bend, and stopped facing the wolves. The glare of the moon had silhouetted most of his body, so it was difficult to make out its fur color, although they could make out his head, and noticed that his ears, standing straight up on his head, were gnawed and had some teeth marks in them. The cougar then let his small cat tongue hang loose from his mouth as he stared down at the wolves. However, what truly gave away this cougar's identity was when the wolves' eyes adjusted to the light, and they looked into his crazed, bloodshot eyes, with the dark yellow iris, and blood-red sclera.

"Oh, phew." Huffed Salty in relief. "Its just Pete."

"What do you mean '_Just_ Pete'?" Garth sneered back at him, trying to remind him what Pete was capable of.

"Well he's obviously not going to take us to Harry." Humphrey commented sadly. "I guess it can't hurt to ask though. Hey Pete-"

"No!" Snapped Garth. "What are you doing? Don't say anything."

The other omegas took the cue as well, and shut their mouths, and didn't move. They just stared up at Pete, waiting for him to do something, but he did not. He just stood there, his twisted eyes glancing off in different directions.

"Nobody move," Garth whispered "nobody make a sound."

"But you're making a sound right now." Whispered Salty.

"Salty, shut up!" Garth hissed back.

Pete continued to sit and stare with that creepy grin on his face. A fly buzzed up around his head, but he took no notice of it. It even landed right on his eyeball, and he did not even flinch. The fly then got off and buzzed away.

"Maybe he's calm." Shakey finally said, breaking the silence.

With that, Pete finally lowered his ears, stepped forward, and roared at them, startling them. "HEHEHEEHE WAHAHAAH!" He cackled as he picked up a rock and hurtled it at the wolves.

Humphrey hopped out of the way as the rock bounced off the ground, and off the mountain.

"He's not calm!" cried Humphrey.

"Quick, behind the rocks!" Garth ordered.

And with that, the wolves charged behind the rocks as Pete continued to throw rocks at them. Mooch, Salty, and Shakey got behind the one closest to the wall while Garth and Humphrey took the one closest to the edge. Pete, a demonic shadow in the moonlight, cackled manically at his trapped adversaries.

**

* * *

**

Back in the valley, Kate, Lilly, Janice, and Reba had all finished removing their make-up, and where now walking through the woods towards the dens.

"I can't believe it took us that long to get that make-up off!" complained Reba.

"Well, we didn't go strait to the pond to wash it off, remember?" replied Kate. "We walked together and talked about how the howl went."

"I must admit, it was a fun howl, for me and Shakey!" laughed Janice. "And he said I did great at the show thing."

"I was so nervous when we were up there." Lilly squeaked up. "I was afraid I would miss a step, or screw up a note in the song, or get out of rhythm some how.

"Girl, that's what we rehearsed it for." Said Reba.

"Yeah, and Lilly, you did great. Don't doubt that." Said Kate, trying to comfort her sister. "Did Garth like it?"

"Absolutely. He loved my dancing, and told me that I didn't miss a beat, even though I thought I did, even on the third '_Cause you're Everywhere to me_'. He said the only thing better than my singing is my howl, and that he couldn't wait to see me at home." Lilly closed her eyes at that last thought, imagining her big, brawny, strong man in the caves lying down, waiting for her.

"Girl, you have a beautiful singing voice, don't let anyone tell you different!" snapped Reba.

" 'Girl?'" Kate laughed. "Reba, you've been hanging out with Chelsea too much."

"Well, if you're making jokes like that, Kate, you've been hanging out with Humphrey too much!" Janice replied. Everyone laughed at that joke.

"Hey, where is Chelsea now anyway?" asked Lilly when the laughter died down.

"With Milo no doubt." Answered Janice. Earlier, as they were washing off their make-up, Milo had come by and gotten Chelsea to come with him. For some reason, he would not say what for.

"Well, whatever it was, it's probably over now, and everyone's at the dens, asleep, getting ready for tomorrow." Said Kate calmly.

"Just think of it Kate." Said Janice, getting all giddy. "After tonight, it'll be just one more day, and you're going to be married!"

"And I couldn't ask for a better man to be my mate." Sighed Kate, daydreaming about Humphrey.

Finally, they had all arrived at the western dens, and were shocked to see that they were all empty. They each split up quickly, and looked into each den, each one void of any wolves. Finally, they headed up the hill to the alpha den, where they found at least Winston and Eve just settling down for the night and cuddling up together,

"Ahh, girls." Smiled Winston at the sight of his beautiful daughters and their friends. Ready to call it an evening?"

"Dad. What's going on?" Demanded Kate nervously. "Everyone's gone. The dens are empty."

"Oh yeah." Eve spoke up. "Candu came here earlier and told everyone to go out to the valley for something, and bring all of their meat."

"Why would Candu make everyone do that?" asked Lilly confused "Dad, aren't you worried about what's going on?"

"Well, Hutch is down there, so whatever's going on, I'm sure he has everything under control." He began to lower his head. "We're going to sleep now. You girls may go ahead and check out what they're up to if you'd like."

"Let's go. Maybe the boys are down there." Stated Janice.

"Must be something big." Kate whispered as they all walked down the hill. "Let's hurry and see what's going on." And she started running into the valley to try to catch the action, and her companions soon followed.

After a ten minute run, following the fresh scent of a running crowd of wolves, they had finally come to the spot in the valley where the entire pack had come.

"Hey, this is both of our packs, isn't it?" asked Janice as they approached the crowd.

"Yeah." replied Reba. Pretty much everyone we know is here."

"Do you see the guys anywhere, Kate?" Lilly asked her sister, who was sitting up and trying to look over the heads of the crowd to see.

"No, but I do see Hutch, Candu, and Rocky in the center. Let's go see them. Maybe they can help."

So the girls all pushed through the crowd to get to the center, gently pushing and apologizing, and saying "excuse me" to everyone they bumped. At last they got to the center, and faced Hutch, Candu, and Rocky. Alongside of them was a huge pile of all the pack's hard-earned meat. On the ground they noticed were some tally marks and names that the boys must have drawn there.

"Candu, Hutch, Rocky." Kate called over, getting their attention, and walked over to them. "What is going on here?"

"Oh, uhh, hi Kate." Stammered Rocky. He looked over her shoulder and saw Reba. "Hey Reba babe." He waved to her."

"Hi big stuff." She replied, flattered.

"Oh, we're gambling." Said Hutch to answer Kate's question.

Suddenly, Milo burst through the crowd, and walked up to Rocky. "I found your two tube thingies Rocks." He panted. He must have run back from the eastern dens as quickly as he could, as he seemed nearly out of breath. As he dropped them both from his jaws, Chelsea came in with the other one, and dropped in front of Rocky. "So, how do they work?" He asked.

"Well, you look through the glass parts of the tube, and they make things farther away seem closer." Rocky replied.

Milo picked up his device in his right paw, and looked through it at Pyramid Mountain, but it looked even farther away then. "I don't think it's working Rocky. It's making the mountain look even farther away."

"You're looking through the wrong end." Stated Candu. "Try the other way." As he was told, Milo flipped around the device and began to look through it again, only this time, his vision was pointed at Candu, and when he looked, the saw a large, angry, scary yellow eye look right back at him.

"Whoa!" Milo jumped back. "Yep, they're working!"

"Wait, what are you gambling on?" Kate demanded.

"We're betting on who we think will survive the log sled ride." Answered Hutch.

"What ride?" Asked Lilly.

"You mean they didn't tell you?" said Milo, sounding shocked. "Humphrey, Garth, and the guys are all going to the top of Pyramid Mountain. They're going to slide all the way to the bottom from up there! And the steaks are high here! You wanna make a bet on who _you _think will survive?"

"WHAT!" exclaimed Kate, suddenly horrified. Actually, her thoughts were a mix of horror and anger. What was Humphrey thinking? He was going to go into the heart of the cougars' territory and ride a log down on a super dangerous route to the bottom? How could he be so reckless?

Kate turned to her sister. She must have been thinking the same thing about Garth. Same thing with Janice for Shakey.

"We have to get up that mountain!" Kate hissed frantically. "We have to stop the boys from making a huge mistake."

"And then we should totally beat them for being so… so…" Lilly could not think of a good word to describe how the boys were being.

"Boy-like?" Janice finished for her.

"Yeah, that's good."

"Just come on." Kate snapped and she and Lilly started running through the crowd again in the direction of the mountain. Lilly turned back to Janice and Reba.

"Janice, Reba, are you guys coming?"

"I don't think so." Replied Reba. "I think if we go along, we'll probably just slow you guys down."

"But be sure to scold Shakey for me." Janice called after them.

"Lilly, Come on!" called Kate who was waiting for her sister to finish. Reba was probably right. Protecting Lilly would probably be hard enough, but plus two peace-loving omegas who did not have the protein needed for mountain and fighting climbing would be a handful. So Kate and Lilly dashed off toward the mountain, hoping to god that their mates and the other boys were okay.

"Hey Hutch," called Claw coming in through the crowd. "Scar and I bet this caribou head that Kate and Lilly beat the crud out of Humphrey and Garth before the ride even begins." And behind her came Scar, on his back was the caribou head, his neck still in tact, and ripped from the body about where the shoulders once were.

**(Author's Note: Claw and Scar are those two Eastern wolves that interrupted Kate's first hunt. Claw is the red one I think, and Scar is the brown one. I also think they are mates.)**

"Okay, so that's a caribou head for Humphrey and Garth dying, right Claw?" checked Rocky.

"Yes." Replied Claw. Scar just grunted.

"One caribou head for Claw and Scar." Repeated Rocky as he made another mark in the dirt.

"And I bet this bag of berries and nuts for my Shakey." said Janice.

"A chuck for Shakey and Garth." Chelsea followed up.

"Four legs on Humphrey and Garth." Called out Rachel.

As Rocky was busy writing down all of these bets, Hutch walked up to him and whispered to him. "You know, I did a little check and calculating, and if nobody bets on all of them, we're going to owe a lot of wolves a lot of meat."

Rocky's ears perked up at the sound of this. "Any bets for _all_ of them surviving?" he announced. For a few moments, nobody said anything, or raised their paws or anything. "Come on!" he shouted. Still no answers. And then, he turned to Milo.

"What about you, Milo. You haven't made a bet yet."

"Yeah Milo." Said Candu instigating. "How about you bet something big, like five caribou on all of them?"

"I ain't stupid guys." Milo replied. "I'm not going that far. Besides, I'm a gamma. How am I suppose to catch five caribou on my own?"

"I'm sure your mate can do something about that." Snickered Rocky.

"I'm not betting five caribou on all of them."

"What are you scared of?"

"I'm not scared."

"Sure you're not."

"Really. I'm ain't scared of nothin'."

"Chicken! Bagock!" and Candu started to strut around and hit his head in the dirt making chicken noises to make fun of Milo.

"I ain't no chicken!" snapped Milo, but that did not stop Candu.

"Prove it." Chuckled Rocky. "Make the bet!"

"Alright, you asked for it, Rocky! Five Caribou on all of them surviving!"

"Five Caribou for all of them!" Rocky repeated for the crowd to hear, leading to the crowd cheering gleefully.

Milo actually felt pretty satisfied with himself, until someone came up behind him and he turned around to face a very angry Chelsea. "So, if we lose, _I_ have to hunt _five_ caribou?"

Milo was completely freaked out. He did not want to keep Chelsea angry at him. Sometimes she was even scarier than Eve. "Uhhh, well sweetie," he stammered, "if we win, we _get_ five caribou! Heh heh…" Chelsea continued to stare him down.

Milo turned to the mountain, and held up his paws in a prayer. "Come on guys, don't let me down!" he said to himself. "You all better come out of this alive!"

**

* * *

**

Pete was going completely wild. He was flinging rocks, twigs, and rodents down at the wolves, all while screeching like a chimpanzee. Luckily, the wolves managed to find some cover behind some large rocks.

"We'll never get to the top with that monster blocking the way!" Called Salty over to Garth and Humphrey.

"We're going to have to take him out." Said Garth. "Okay, here's the plan: guys distract him, and while his attention is off me, I'll sneak up and pounce him!"

"Okay, sure. Whatever you say, you're the alpha here." Replied Humphrey, nodding his head. If any of them knew anything about taking out a dangerous opponent such as this, it would be Garth. He was, after all, one of the finest and most well trained hunters in the western pack, or both packs for that matter.

So Humphrey jumped out from behind the rock and started waving his arms around and dancing and such shouting "Hey Pete!"

"Hey you big stupid cat!" Shakey shouted tauntingly, following Humphrey's example, and throwing pebbles at him. Soon Salty and Mooch joined in as well.

Pete turned his psychotic gaze onto the omegas, and started bombarding them even harder with his debris. They all ducked and dodged to avoid getting hit, and still continued to taunt him.

Meanwhile, Garth crouched down, and snuck behind the omegas, and jumped up onto the mountain wall as silently as possible. Then he crawled over on the ledge, staying low, getting closer to Pete, until finally, he was finally in range of a good pounce, and still high enough to Pete could not see him.

Little did he know that Pete had already sensed him approaching with his superior cat hearing. He could hear even the softest taps of Garth's paws on the cold, hard rock. But Pete was clever, though no one took him as such, he barley even glanced at Garth. He continued to chuck rocks and picas at the omegas.

Garth did what he was trained to do: First he crouched down lower, got a good lock on to Pete, steadied his shoulders and forearms, and finally lunged at Pete with a grunt.

Just as he did so, Pete looked up and acted fast. He jumped back, sprang out his claws, and as Garth was coming in toward him, Pete struck him, sending him hurtling smack into the rock wall.

"OOOH!" the omegas all shouted in unison, giving a sympathetic look of disbelief. The kind of look and sound you give someone when they go though something that looks really painful.

Garth tried to get up, moaning from the pain from the impact, but Pete was not about to let him get off so easily. He grabbed Garth by the back of his neck, and by his back right below his shoulders with his claws, sat down close to the wall, and then started violently ramming him head first into the wall. And as he did so, Pete was no longer screeching like a monkey, but now was cackling sadistically.

"Hang on Garth! We're coming!" called Humphrey as he ran up the trail to help his friend.

The other omegas, on the other hand, were a bit slow, and did not react for a second. "Wow Garth." Said Salty in an amazed tone. "That looks like it really hurts."

"Help. Me. You. Jerks!" screamed Garth in between bangs.

"Oh yeah! Hold on, we're coming!" called Shakey as he and the others ran up after Humphrey.

Pete suddenly turned his attention from Garth to the Omegas, and saw them all running up to him. In just a few seconds, they would be upon him, and likely outnumber him. Maybe. So, he stopped smashing the alpha against the rock, and pulled back, holding Garth over his head, and threw him at the omegas.

"Look Out!" Garth screamed as he hurtled toward Humphrey. In response, Humphrey skid to a halt, and tried to turn around, but Garth struck him, and the two rolled together down the path, right at the other omegas. "Incoming!" shouted Mooch as Garth and Humphrey struck them, making the sound effect of a strike in bowling.

All the wolves lay piled and scrambled up together, moaning from the force of the blow. "A perfect strike, Pete." Laughed Humphrey, giving Pete the thumbs up.

"Don't encourage him!" snapped Garth, who got beaten up more than all of them.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Cackled Pete with delight from up the path, as he continued to throw things at the wolves.

The wolves all quickly snapped out of their wooziness, and ran back to their rocks for cover. Again, Salty, Shakey and Mooch behind the one closest to the wall, and Humphrey and Garth behind the one closer to the edge.

"Okay, that didn't work." Commented Humphrey after they all caught their breath.

"Well, Humphrey, let's see you come up with an idea on how to beat him!" hissed Garth. He was frustrated for a number of reasons. One, he had failed to take out Pete, which he found quite embarrassing. Second, he got seriously beaten up, and now as in pain, which no one seemed to care about right then. Third, here Humphrey was criticizing his hunting strategy. What did he know about hunting? He's an omega!

Humphrey was a bit offended by Garth's attitude first, but he actually did have an idea, so he simply replied "Okay." He turned to the other omegas. "Guys, let's lower the boom!"

"Yeah, let's boom it. Alright!" Salty and Shakey said.

"Alright let's do this!" shouted Mooch, cracking his knuckles.

"Wait, wait! You're going to throw Mooch at him?" Garth asked disbelievingly.

"You wanted my idea, that's my idea." Replied Humphrey. "Don't worry. We've thrown Mooch at a lot of our enemies before."

"Well what if you miss? Mooch is going to go flying off the edge!"

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

Garth and Humphrey continued to argue as the other omegas just sat and hid from Pete. Just then, Shakey got an idea. He noticed one stray pica crawling around right next to him, and grabbed it before it could get away. "Wait guys." He shouted over, interrupting the argument, and drawing their attention. "I have an idea!" And he jumped out from cover to confront Pete.

"Shakey, No!" Cried Humphrey, thinking he was going to do something crazy.

"Hey Pete," he called over to the rampaging cougar, "how about a nice, tasty pica?" He held up the pica toward Pete, who suddenly stopped throwing things, and began staring at the scrumptious little rodent being offered to him, and drooling and licking his lips over it, and showing his rows of fangs and teeth, and panting heavily.

"Shakes, be careful!" said Salty. All the wolves were now were staring intently at Shakey, hoping for the best for him.

Shakey slowly came closer to Pete, still holding out the Pica. "Who's a good kitty?" He said cheerfully as he shook the pica, "Hmmm? Who's a good kitty?"

Pete kept panting at the snack before him. His creepy, hungry eyes stayed locked onto it as the wolf shook it. He tried to take a snap at it, but Shakey quickly pulled it away.

"Fetch, boy!" Shakey suddenly exclaimed as he tossed the pica back down the side of the mountain that they had come up. Immediately, Pete leaped after the Pica, forcing the other wolves to split to the side of the path, out of his way. When it landed on the tiny strip of rock, Pete chased it around the side, while still keeping his balance amazingly.

"That should keep him busy for a few minutes. Let's get going before he gets back." Said Shakey.

Surprised at his technique, the party proceeded to follow Shakey. They still had a long way to go before they reached the top.

"You know Shakey," Said Garth at one point, "you could have just thrown the pica off the cliff and we would have been rid of Pete forever."

"Garth," said Shakey in a matter-of-fact tone, "nobody, not even Pete, is crazy (or stupid) enough to jump off a cliff for a pica."

"Hey Garth, you okay?" asked Humphrey, remembering how badly he got beaten up. Humphrey looked Garth over. His right eye was black, and he had some bruises on the top of his head and his back.

Shakey quickly ran his paw down Garth's strong back. "I don't see any blood or scratches. I guess the claws didn't go deep."

"Think he'll be okay?"

"Yep, I think he's okay."

"Yep, I'm good." Replied Garth. "Thanks for finally asking!"

"Sorry, I was too worried about Pete."

"Oh, _you_ were worried about Pete? Well how do you think I felt? He used me as a battering ram!"

Everyone started laughing at that joke. They were all happy and having a good time again on their hike. Meanwhile Pete continued to charge after the tumbling pica.

**

* * *

**Meanwhile, just up ahead in the mountain, where the snow had covered everything, and the moon was reflecting off of it, creating a beautiful bluish glow, out by a small pond were two cougars, sitting side by side snuggled up together, enjoying each other's company. One had grayish fur, the other was crème.

"Wouldn't it be nice if there were fish in this pond?" asked the grey one.

"Of course it would, but for now, we have plenty of other animals to gaze at and eat. We have goats, condors, and buzzards, don't we? whispered the crème colored one. "I mean those were some delicious buzzards you caught for us today, Oscar."

"I'm glad you liked them." Answered her love. "Only the finest for my pack. Besides, you don't know what I went through to get those birds today, or how much Pete I had to put up with."

This comment forced her to laugh. "Well it was all worth it in the end, wouldn't you say?" she asked, snuggling more into his warm fur.

"Oh yeah. Definitely."

After another minute, Oscar pulled back and looked at Chloe. He noticed how the moonlight illuminated her crème fur, setting it off more with the snow in the background. And lastly, he stared into her sparkling turquoise eyes that matched perfectly with all the surroundings.

"What is it?" She finally asked. She knew why he was staring at her, she just wanted to hear it herself.

"You're just so beautiful." He replied. "I'm brought back to the night I first saw you. I noticed how you taught the stars to burn bright, and hang upon the cheek of the night. You are a rich jewel in an Ethiopia's, beauty too rich for heaven, and for Earth to dear. And I ask myself: Did my heart love 'til then? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til that night."

"Ha. You got that from Duke, didn't you?"

"Of course I got it from Duke. The guy's a slithering library for crying out loud!"

Again, Chloe could not help but laugh. She looked again at that handsome cat before her, and moved in closer to his face, began to close her eyes, and slowly let her tongue slide out.

Oscar could see where she was going, and moved in closer to her, his tongue also out. They were inches away from slobbering each other gingerly the way cats do, when suddenly, two large, hulking cougars jumped up and shouted "Hey Boss!"

Chloe and Oscar must have been so focused on each other that they did not hear them coming. Disappointingly, Oscar pulled away from Chloe, who herself was sad that their time together was suddenly cut short. Oscar turned angrily to his bumbling henchmen.

"What is it guys?" he asked irritably. One of the large cougars had brownish-gold fur, the other had a dark brown coat. The dark brown one spoke first. "We heard Pete make the monkey noises, and then it go quite again, and then screaming, and laughing ha ha, and loud bangs and…"

"Bruiser," hissed Oscar, more irritated that this one was being so difficult to understand. "Let Carnage do the talking." And he turned to the brownish-gold cougar.

"Well, Pete set off the monkey alarm, so I think we're being attacked by the wolves." He said.

"Did you guys see any wolves yet?"

"No. You always said come get you if we hear from Pete." Replied Bruiser.

"Oh, right."

"So, can we go bust some wolf heads?" hissed Carnage, baring his teeth and pointing his ears downward.

"Yeah, Yeah! Let's bust some heads!" Bruiser giggled.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, go ahead just leave me alone with Chloe."

"Aren't you going with them?" asked Chloe astonished.

"What, you don't want me to stay here with you?"

"Well it is your responsibility to be on guard duty, isn't it."

"Do you really want to watch the three of us shred some wolves? I know you hate violence."

"Of course I don't want to see that. I want to see you go talk to them, and see what they want."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Come on Oscar, do it for me." And she gazed at him with her pretty greenish-blue eyes.

"Oh, alright. I'll see what they're here for, and it its bad, we'll kill them."

"That's more like it." She said sweetly, and so the four of them set down after the wolves.

**

* * *

**Those wolves were getting closer and closer to the top slowly. The path made it easier to climb up, and they did follow the path for another good part of the way, but of course the path was not always straight. Sometimes they had to climb up the wide, flatter slopes of the mountain, and then go back to the path when it became steep again. Sometimes, they had to jump across or climb the tall rocks again. Some of these rocks were very tricky and tough to overcome, and demand extreme agility to overcome, something many cougars had over wolves. Garth and Shakey were able to jump across most of these rocks. Humphrey and Salty did okay for the most part, but needed a little help every now and again, and Mooch almost always needed to be pulled up over the rocks.

Finally, after hours of hiking and many stars have vanished, and the moon was sinking into the horizon, they finally came to a change of scenery. The path was now going almost straight up, with some rocks to climb onto, and the path branching off into horizontal paths every now and again. The mountain was no longer mostly rock with some weeds or flowers sticking up out of the cracks. Instead, the mountain was starting to get covered in snow. Many rocks were still unburied, and were dark and black. No life could be seen either. No picas, so goats, nothing. No plants were left on the mountain, save a few brown, dying weeds. Cold, strong winds were blowing up at that high altitude, sending trails of snow dancing through the air, and sending chills down the wolves' spines. Even their fur could barely keep them warm up there.

Nevertheless, the wolves continued to climb up the way they have been so far. At last, They had finished up the straight path, and were onto the horizontal trail again. Garth and Humphrey walked side by side in the lead, while Mooch, Salty, Shakey and Mooch trailed in right behind them. Finally, Garth spoke up. Even though they were right next to each other, he had to shout over the wind to be heard.

"Humphrey?"

"Yeah?"

"I really don't think we should be up here."

"That's because we shouldn't"

"We're high enough. I say we find a log somewhere and slide down from here. What do you guys think?" he turned back to the three omegas.

"Yeah, lets do that." Shakey said.

"Sure." Said Mooch

"I'm freezing." Salty complained.

"Come on Humphrey, we don't need to go to the tip-top. We're all scared and cold, and we just want to get out of here before something bad happens."

Humphrey looked at Garth, and saw the snow particles in his fur. Garth himself was starting to shiver. He looked back at the omegas, and saw that they were shivering even more than Garth, their faces squinting in pain from the frostbite. Humphrey understood that they needed to get somewhere warmer, or within another couple of hours, they would proably freeze to death. He looked up at the mountain. They where about another few miles away from the top, jagged peak, just stretching out an inch higher than the others. Humphrey wanted to go up there, and see view of Jasper from up there, and witness the thrill of sliding down from up there, but his friends were much more important than that. He turned to Garth and was about to say he agreed with him, when suddenly, he remembered something.

"What about Marcel and Paddy? We can't go without them."

"Did somebody say our names?" called a familiar voice. Everyone turned to the source of the voice, which was Marcel's head, which popped out from a pile of snow. Some of his feathers were blue from the cold. "Paddy, wake up. The wolves are here." He caused a small bit of shaking in the snow, and Paddy's head popped up right next to him. He looked just as cold as Marcel.

"Whoa, are you guys okay?" asked Shakey as he stepped closer to the birds.

"A spot of hot tea would be nice right about now." Marcel said, trying to sound humorous. "I couldn't agree more." Said Paddy.

"Hey, where's the blanket?" asked Salty.

"Ah yes." Marcel got up out of the snow, shook his feathers dry, and waddled over to a big rock. He lifted the rock with a few grunts, and quickly took out the folded up blanket with his foot. "Kept it dry."

"Great job." Garth commented.

"Why thank you."

Humphrey spoke up next. "Okay, so you guys are all freezing, right?"

"YES!" everyone else shouted in unison.

"Okay then. Forget the top. Let's split up and try to find a log we can use to slide down from here."

"You're not going anywhere!" growled an angry voice. And before anyone could say or do anything, two huge cougars, about twice as big as Pete, though slightly smaller than bears, jumped down from the wall above them, and right on the path the way they came, cutting off their retreat. One was brownish-gold, who snarled and hissed and arched his back, indicating that they were ready to fight, and kill. The other was a darker brown, and he just roared at the party.

When his roar was finished, Marcel and Paddy both let out a loud, blood-curdling, girly scream, and hugged each other for protection.

The omegas each jumped and scrambled back to be in line with Garth and Humphrey, each letting out squeals and moans of fear. Humphrey was so frightened by these two giants that he forgot the plan, and turned to run. But as he was doing so, his snout bumped into the nose of another cougar, and looked straight into his angry, greenish-yellow eyes. Humphrey let out his own small scream (though a manly one, not girly) and took a step back.

He looked over at the cougar he had just bumped, and recognized him as Oscar, Harrison's second in command. And beside him walked up a crème-furred cougar they all knew as Chloe, Oscar's girlfriend. These giant cougars, on the other hand, none of them were familiar with. Whoever they were, they had them trapped.

**Author's Note: Phew! Another long chapter! Sorry about that folks. I know last time I said it would not be so long, but I just got carried away. I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless. I promise the next chapter will be shorter, and it will come up in a sooner date. Again, big thank you to all of my readers, supporters, reviewers, and subscribers for appreciating my work. Song credits go to "Who Let the Dogs Out?" By the Baha Men, which I do not own.**


	8. Chapter 8: Prisoners

Oscar stood there, strong and intimidating, glaring at the wolves and birds, while the two hulking cougars behind them growled and hissed. All the wolves, huddled together were terrified, especially Mooch, who was whimpering. Marcel and Paddy still clung to each other. Garth was the only one who refused to show signs of fear. He stood in a stance, ready to fight if any cougar should pounce them, and bared his own teeth. Finally, Oscar broke the silence.

"You lost, little doggies?" he asked mockingly.

Humphrey swallowed his nervousness, tried to look friendly, and spoke up. "Hey Oscar." He said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Don't you 'Hey Oscar' me, bub!" Oscar snapped back, obviously angry. "What do you think you're doing up on our mountain?"

Before Humphrey or Garth could answer, the brown giant cougar shouted "Hey Carnage! Look! A condor!" He then stepped forward, reached out, and grabbed Shakey by the hind legs. Shakey screamed in surprise and terror, while Marcel and Paddy let out sighs of relief.

"SHAKEY!" Humphrey screamed. The other wolves all stared at the scene, wondering what this brute was going to do with Shakey. Dangling him by his foot so he was upside down, he held him up in front of the goldish-brown cougar, apparently named Carnage, for a second.

"Bruiser," Carnage sighed, rolling his eyes. "That's not a condor. That's just a puny wolf!"

"Hey, who you calling puny?" Shakey snapped, still dangling upside down, but a quick grunt and glare from Carnage shut him up. "_Oh_, you're calling _me_ puny." He joked, trying to cheer him up. He did not want to get on the bad side of either of these giants.

"Nah," said Bruiser. "He's too small to be a wolf!"

"I'll tell you who's small." Said Shakey, a bit irritated now. "Candu. He's even small than me."

"Actually, I don't know who's bigger." Mooch stated.

"Oh, thanks for the help, Mooch!" Shakey hissed sarcastically.

"See, look." Carnage reach forward, grabbed Paddy around the neck, and pried him from Marcel's grip. "Paddy!" Marcel cried.

"You see this bird?" Carnage said to Bruiser, as he held and shook Paddy in front of him. "See how he has wings, feathers, webbed feet, and a beak?"

"Actually," squeaked Paddy, "I'm a duck so I have a bill." He suddenly let out a suffocating quack as Carnage squeezed his throat tighter.

"And your guy has none of that." Carnage went on. "He has fur, paws, a muzzle and blunt fangs. He's clearly an omega wolf you dummy!"

"Oh yeah?" Bruiser hissed angrily, "We'll see. I'll drop him off the cliff here, and when he flies away, you'll be the dummy!"

"Please! Don't throw me off the cliff!" Shakey begged as calmly as he could, and holding his paws up in a prayer. He also smiled still not wanting to make the behemoth angry.

"Well, he won't fly away," Carnage muttered, "but it will be fun watching him fall to his death! Ha ha! OW!" He suddenly felt something heavy bang his free paw, the one he was not holding Paddy with. He looked down to see Marcel, holding a small, thin, long rock that he must have hit him with.

"Unhand my caddy you vile beast!" he barked boldly.

"Why you little-!" growled Carnage as he raised his free paw a prepared to strike back.

"Boys!" ordered Oscar from up front, stopping Carnage. "Put them down!"

Bruiser moaned with disappointment as he set Shakey down, while Carnage hissed at both of the birds before roughly throwing Paddy into Marcel's wings. Shakey scrambled off and got behind Garth, away from Bruiser, but one look at Oscar sent him to the other side of Garth, right in the middle of the wolves.

"Again, what are you doing on our territory?" asked Oscar less patiently, "you trying to sneak up and get us while we're asleep?"

"What? No! No! We're not in to that!" replied Humphrey reassuringly. "We just want to ask Harry a favor. That's all. No need to get your fur in a bunch."

"Well, whatever it is, the answer will probably be no." Suddenly, Chloe elbowed Oscar in the ribs, and he shot her a brief look of irritation before letting taking a deep breath. He understood what she wanted him to say, and he clearly did not like it. "What favor do you want to ask him?" Oscar asked, rolling his eyes.

"We're having a bachelor party for Humphrey here," Garth piped up, as he began to let his guard down and ease his stance. "And what we want to do to as a finale for the party is slide down the mountain on a log. That's all we want."

Oscar gave the two wolves an annoyed look, and suddenly a cricket started chirping. Oscar looked down, and saw the cricket standing next to him, chirping. Annoyed, Oscar quickly stepped on it, silencing it, and then turned his attention back to the wolves. "You really expect me to believe that _that_ is what this is all about? You came up here for a stunt like that? I mean come on! Even you guys aren't_ that_ stupid!"

"It was all Humphrey's idea, not the rest of ours'." snapped Salty.

"Just look at us." said Garth. "We're one alpha, four omegas, and a golfing goose and his duck caddy. If we came here to fight, don't you think we would have come with some more reinforcements?"

"Okay, I'll admit you have a point there." muttered Oscar after a second. "But apparantly, this posse is enough to beat Pete."

"Actually, we didn't beat him." Shakey spoke up. "Thanks to _my_ genious idea, we got him distracted so we could sneak past him." As he said this, Salty and Mooch rolled their eyes.

_Well, at least we know Pete's not dead_, Oscar thought to himself. "It doesn't really matter what you came here for." he said aloud, "You're trespassing on our turf, and Harrison gave me orders to deal with any animal that trespasses on our turf."

"I think he's about to give us the order to crush them, Bruiser!" Carnage whispered to Bruiser, a wicked grin on his face and blood thirst gleaming in his eyes. The omegas and birds whimpered. Garth's body tensed. He knew he could not keep up a fight, though. Even he could not last long against these three cougars on such a cramped fighting space.

"Oh come on, Oscar!" Chloe interrupted in a sweet tone. "They mean us no harm, they're just here to have fun. Come on, let's let them pass."

"Chloe," Oscar sighed, clearly annoyed. "I technically shouldn't have even let them speak. We should have killed them the minute we came near them."

"Give me one good reason why we should kill them."

"I can think of a few. One, they're trespassing and we're suppose to kill all trespassers. Two, what they said could be a lie to get closer to Harrison. And three, killing them now would save me a lot of aggravation."

"Look at Humphrey." Chloe sat up and walked over to Humphrey and gave him a light pat on the head, which he seemed uncomfortable with at first. "Does he look like a liar to you?" Upon hearing this, Humphrey smiled as Oscar looked him over.

"Hmmph. I guess none of them look like liars." Oscar grunted.

Humphrey thought he saw Chloe wink at him briefly as she took her paw off his head. "Come on, sweetie." She said in her sweet tone as she trotted back over to Oscar. "Just do this for me?" She leaned over close to him and gave him a sweet, innocent, sad looking face, letting her beauty try to entrance him.

"Oh no! Not the face! You already lead me on to give them a chance! That's it for tonight."

Chloe continued to give Oscar her face, and blinked to add to it. "Please.." she said.

At last, Oscar rolled his eyes and huffed. "You know, one day I'm going to find a way around that face." He turned to the wolves. "Alright guys, tell ya what. We'll take you to Harrison. You can talk it out with him. Fair enough?"

"Oh sure, absolutely." replied Garth cheerfully.

"Sure. We can work with that." followed up Mooch.

"What? No pounding?" exclaimed a shocked Carnage. He then let out a disappointed grunt.

"But I warn ya:" Oscar continued, "Stay huddled up together like you are now, and don't make any suspicious moves, and not a peep out of any of you, or you're through! Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Come on." Oscar turned around and started heading up the path again. Chloe followed right behind him. Garth then gestured to the others to follow, and took the lead. Humphrey followed him, then Shakey, then Mooch, then Marcel and Paddy, and as Salty was taking up the rear, Carnage reached down and shoved him up, making him bump into Humphrey.

"Hey!" shouted Humphrey.

"Hmph!" Carnage grunted back at him.

The omegas let it out, knowing it would not do any good to argue, and continued walking.

"Hey, Garth right?" Oscar spoke up. "What happened to your eye there? Oh, wait let me guess... Pete, right?"

"Yep" Garth admitted.

"Ha!" Oscar said mockingly. "You alphas are pathetic! No single wolf can beat my buddy!"

"Hey! It's been a long day; I'm tired, hungry, I'm drunk from the party. I could have taken him if I was sober!"

"_Sure_ you could have." Oscar said sarcastically.

"I could take you if I was drunk ten times over!" Garth hissed in a low voice, hoping Oscar would not hear him.

"Garth, Garth, chill!" Humphrey's whispered to him soothingly. "You were amazing down there. Just you wait, next time, when you are sober and well rested, you'll beat Pete for sure!"

"Quiet!" Hissed Carnage.

Garth and Humphrey smiled at each other. Garth had appreciated Humphrey's words. He was not really drunk from the party that day, although he was tired since he would normally be asleep by now, and he (and everyone else in the party) had not had anything to eat since breakfast that day. He was really just trying to come up with excuses for not being able to defeat Pete. He was embarrassed that he was barely a match for that cuckoo-eyed cat. But he agreed with Humphrey. _Next time,_ he thought, _Pete won't know what hit him._

* * *

Down below, Kate and Lilly were still climbing up the side of the mountain, down where it was still rocky and warmer. They had finished creeping along side of a thin strip of rock, and had jumped back onto a wider path. They were both still fuming that their mates would think of pulling the stunt Milo had told them about.

"Can you believe it Lilly?" Kate asked her sister. "Can you believe even Humphrey would think of doing something so stupid? I mean if the cougars don't kill them, the ride will!"

"And if they live through that, we'll make them wish they hadn't!" Huffed Lilly. "I'll be honest, Humphrey I can understand doing this, but Garth? You'd think he'd have the sense to try to talk the guys out of it, let alone not go along with it!"

"I know! I mean what are they thinking? This is crazy!"

"Well, guys do crazy all kinds of things at their bachelor parties."

"Yeah, and I guess with Humphrey, we should expect the craziest." Kate was finally starting calm down. "Its just that I love him, and I don't want him to get hurt, or do anything he'll regret."

"I know. I feel the same way about Garth. Don't worry. When we catch them, we'll knock some sense into-"

"Shh!" Kate hissed as she stopped held up her paw, stopping Lilly. Just up ahead, lying down next to a plane that was going up, was a large, light brown cougar. He was teething on a small, bloody ball of meat and fur. From that meat, his snout and jaws were dyed red. A lot of the fur on his front side was speckled with blood as well.

"Pete." Kate whispered to Lilly. "Looks like he's eating a pica." Both girls stared for a second at the cougar ravenously devouring the pelt that once belonged to a pica. They observed Pete's sharp fangs as he dug into it, his sharp claws that stretched it out more, and how he gazed at it with hungry, deranged, red eyes. Luckily, he seemed to be so engrossed in his snack, that he seemed to take no notice the two female wolves.

"What do we do?" Lilly asked nervously.

"If we're really quiet, maybe he won't notice us." Kate whispered back. And with that, she slowly crept forward. She knew that cougar's had strong senses. Pete probably was already aware of their presence. She was counting on his snack to keep him distracted.

Kate continued to walk slowly. She was now coming up right by Pete, only about a yard away from him. She swallowed her fear, and walked straight ahead, bravely and boldly. At last, she was past him, and almost at the end of the walkway, getting closer to the ramp that would lead upward.

At this point, Lilly had started to follow her sister, and tried to walk straight, trying hard not to waver. The closer she came up to Pete, however, the more nervous she became, and the more she started sweating. She could not help but look at him. Any second, she feared he would turn away from his snack, gaze up at her, and take her down as his next meal, biting and tearing at her gluttonously.

She looked ahead, and saw her sister up ahead at the edge of the path, waving her paw and beckoning her closer. She was almost there. Just a little further...

Suddenly, her forepaw kicked a little pebble, sending it tumbling over the path, making a slight pitter-patter. Almost immediately, Pete's head jerked up, and he turned to face Lilly. She froze in her place and gasped, not knowing what to do. Kate let out a slight gasp, and then hunkered down, ready to pounce if need be.

To both of their surprises, however, Pete just turned away and went back to mauling his pica. Lilly tip-toed over to Kate again. When they were reunited again, they both exhaled.

Big Mistake! Again, Pete's head jerked up again. He practically lept up, turned towards the girls, and started cackling uncontrollably.

"Run!" Kate barked at her sister, and without further delay, they bolted up the trail again, before Pete even had a chance to give chase.

It did not matter. Pete simply stood there and continued to cackle, and his eyes gleaming with a new hunger. He knew he would meet these intruders again soon enough.

* * *

Oscar continued to lead the party along through the path on the mountain, slowly leading everyone closer to the den of the cougars. There were still a few instances with very thin paths, large gaps to jump across, rocks to jump over, and some rockslides to dodge, but for the most part, the path was larger and easier to follow for everyone.

The cougars had no problem mastering the landscape, not only because they knew it well, but their nimble bodies were able to handle it. The wolves still had a little trouble however. Garth was still able to handle most of the obstacles, as was Shakey, but the other omegas still had some trouble, particularly Mooch. Whenever the wolves needed some help, however, Bruiser and Carnage gave them the extra push from behind. Marcel and Paddy stuck around with everyone, not daring to fly away yet. They flew over the obstacles with ease. Marcel always kept his long rock handy, just in case. No one spoke through the most of the hike, and if one of the wolves started to talk, Carnage quickly shut them up.

All a while, Humphrey was thinking about how this all had gone. He and his friends were now all Oscar's prisoners. He supposed they should be grateful for that. If it had not been for Chloe, they all would have been cat food. But perhaps Chloe only delayed their death. If they could barely reason with Oscar, how could they hope to reason with Harrison? Humphrey realized that he had, in fact, lead his friends to their deaths. He just wanted to have some more fun with his friends before getting married, and letting it all go, and now he may not get to do that, or get married at all. He was going to die on this mountain. He had let all of his friends down, and now they were going to die up there with him. And it was all his fault.

_Well, at least we're all going down together._ Humphrey thought to himself. _I wouldn't have that any other way._

After a few more hours of climbing, the moon had receded into the horizon, and the sun was starting to rise on the other side of the Earth. It was still creeping up from behind the mountains, so not all the shadows in Jasper Park were driven away yet, but the sky was being lit up, replacing the dark purple shade with a lightening bluish one. As it grew lighter out, it became easier to see the path.

By now the party was very high up. The cold winds continued to nip at them, but as the sun rose, the winds started to calm for some reason.

And soon, the party came to one path that seemed even more foreboding than the place where they had met Oscar. There were absolutely no plants to be seen. gusts of snow were blowing and being whisked away in the wind. Buried in the snow, was the bones and skeletons of goats and condors.

"Hey Oscar, let me ask you something." Garth finally said, breaking the prolonged silence.

"What?" Oscar grumbled.

"Why do you guys all work in a pack? Aren't cougars suppose to be loners?"

"For you information, we don't work in a pack. We all just live in the same cave. There's not a lot of room on Pyramid Mountain for everyone to be scattered, so we all share a cave with each other."

"Looks to me like there's plenty of room on this mountain." Humphrey said.

"Well, other than the cave thing, up here it's every cougar for himself... And sometimes we share food on days where others don't find a good catch."

"Well then, if that's true, how come you and your friends here do whatever Harrison says?" asked Garth.

"Well, you see we...uhhh..." Oscar stopped talking a second, and thought, while stuttering on what to say. There either was no reason why he obeyed Harrison, or there was one and he just did not want to say it. He frantically tried to come up with an excuse, but he was suddenly interrupted by a high, quavering voice.

"Ahh, by the flapping of my gums, something furry, this way comes!" Suddenly, a small, thin, yellow-spotted body slithered up to greet Oscar and Chloe. "Make that some _things_!" it chuckled.

"Good morning, Duke." Oscar greeted him in a condescending voice.

"A good morning to you too, sir, and madam." Duke raised his head and bowed it to both Oscar and Chloe. "And it would appear you brought guests!" He looked over at the wolves. "How delightful!"

"We're taking them to Harrison, Duke." Oscar replied, still sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Ahh, yes, of course! I must warn you though; this is the day he normally sleeps in late."

"Oh, right, of course!" Oscar sounded even more aggravated this time.

"How late does he sleep in?" Shakey asked.

"He normally gets up right about now, but today is the one day of the week he wakes up when the sun is halfway up to its apex. He's gonna be pretty cranky. You guys just_ had_ to come today, didn't you?"

"Umm, sorry?" Salty responded awkwardly.

"Come on." Oscar sighed as he began walking again. "We're almost there."

"Ahh, yes! So close to your destination!" chanted Duke in high spirits. "They say the hardest journey need be only one step at a time, but one must keep on stepping to reach the end."

Another few minutes, and the party had come around a corner of a flat, side path, and had arrived at a large cave, with needle-like stalactites hanging from the roof of the mouth. There was one other small hole above the mouth, and two other larger holes on the sides of those, making the entrance of the cave look like a human skull. This was, without a doubt, the cougar cave.

Everyone peeked over and looked inside. Sure enough, there at least ten other cougars in there, with a few cubs at their sides here and their. All of them were still sound asleep. Some bones and scraps were scattered all along the cave floor.

"Duke, make yourself useful and go wake up Harrison." Oscar hissed to Duke.

"Are you mad?" Duke complained. "I'm not going to wake him up. He'll squash me. Not with full intention, of course. His frustration will just blind him at the time. You should do it. He will have a difficult time killing you in one blow."

After a glare and a deep breath, Oscar finally stepped into the cave. "Wait here." he whispered to the party. He was careful not to step on anyone, or knock over any bones, careful not to disturb anyone's slumber.

At last, he came up to a cougar slightly larger than himself, with dark orange brown fur and a scar across his left eye. He lay next to his light-grey brown furred mate. Sprawled out on her back was one cub with fur like his father's, and cuddled in her paws was a spotted cub.

Oscar quietly stepped over to the male, and gave him a gentle nudge with his nose. "Harrison, sir. Wake up. Come on" He whispered as soothingly as he could.

After a second, Harrison let out a light groan, and his eyes squinted and blinked up at Oscar. "What is it Oscar?" he asked quietly so not to disturb anyone else.

"Uh, morning, first of all. We kind of have some, uhh... intruders."

"Intruders? Why didn't you deal with them. You know how to deal with intruders."

"Well, they- um- kind of wanted to talk to you."

Harrison glared at Oscar for another second. "Chloe talked you into sparing them, didn't she."

"Well,"

"DIDN'T SHE!"

Oscar nodded his head shamefully.

"This is why I don't like her; she makes me question your loyalty to me."

"Sir, you know I'd never turn on you."

"Uh-huh, sure." He replied in an unconvinced tone.

"Really, I wouldn't. You're like family to me."

Harrison rolled his eyes, then stretched out before getting up. "We'll discuss this later. Where are the intruders?"

"Just outside the cave, sir."

"Alright." Harrison began to take a step over toward the mouth, when suddenly a paw grabbed his, stopping him.

"Darling, I thought you were sleeping in today." said a sleepy, yet sweet and loving voice of Tiana, his beautiful mate, who was still lying down.

"I'm sorry Tia." he replied. "Apparently, Oscar didn't have the spine to kill of some intruders."

"Oh, do you have to go start killing already?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Okay then. I'll see you later, tiger." she let go of his paw, and he quietly trotted outside, Oscar right behind him.

When at last he emerged from the shadows of the cave and faced the party. The omegas and the birds backed down timidly, while Humphrey and Garth steadily stood their ground. "Ahh, good morning, sir!" Duke greeted him warmly. "Chloe, get in the cave. You've done quite enough here." He demanded.

"Stay safe guys," she quickly whispered to Humphrey and Garth.

"Now!" Harrison barked. "I'll deal with you later."

Chloe hung her head as she quietly walked into the cave, Harrison's glare following her. When she was gone, he turned back to the wolves.

"So, Garth, what is the meaning of this? Were you planning on sneaking up on us and killing me in my sleep?"

"What? No! Why does everyone think that?"

"Then why have you come?"

"Well, actually, Humphrey here's leading this posse." Garth stuttered. "Talk it out with him." He put his arm around Humphrey, and pushed him up closer to Harrison.

"Hmph. An omega leading a posse." Harrison chuckled to himself.

"What are you doing?" Humphrey hissed at Garth.

"Well it was your idea to come up here and talk to Harry. Now you do it." he replied. "Don't worry. We're right behind you."

Humphrey nervously turned to Harrison, nervous on what to say.

"Okay Humphrey." Harrison grunted, as he sat on his haunches and continued to stare Humphrey down. "What do you want?"

"Umm, hey Harry...son." Humphrey stammered.

"Good save there."

"How are you doing?"

"Fine, I suppose."

"Whatcha been up to?"

"Sleeping."

"Oh, that's cool." _Okay, Humphrey,_ he said to himself. _Quite beating around the bush. Just as ask him._ "So Harrison, sir, me and the guys here have been having a little bachelor party, because you know I'm getting married to Kate soon, and all. It's been a really fun party. Oh, I'm sorry we didn't invite you guys. It's just that I figured you guys wouldn't want to come, I mean with us being enemies and all-"

"OUT WITH IT BOY! WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Harrison bellowed.

"For the big finale of my party, me and the guys here wanted to slide down your mountain here on a log. May we do that, please?"

"Absolutely not." Harrison replied coldly.

"What? Why not?" Asked Mooch, shocked.

"Why would I let you have the joy of sliding down _my_ mountain? I hate all of you! You really think I'd be willing to drop the rivalry of our species for something like this?"

"Come on, it's just one small thing." said Garth.

"Yes. We just want to go for a ride here. That's all. It does not bother you the slightest." Marcel brought up.

"Come on man, open your heart. We're just here to have fun." Begged Salty.

"No." Harrison repeated. "A millennia worth of species rivalry does not pause just because one individual is going out for his bachelor party. You boys made a very stupid mistake coming up here, expecting my hospitality." He turned to Oscar. "I want you to kill them this time." He ordered.

"Umm, Okay."

"How do you think we should deal with them? Should we throw them off the cliff? Should we have Pete rip them apart?"

"It would be a shame to let good meat like this go to waste. How about we just break their necks, and save their bodies for lunch?"

"I got dibs on the fat one!" shouted Bruiser with glee.

"Hey!" Mooch snapped.

"Great." Garth cursed under his breath, somewhat directed at Humphrey. "We were having such a good time too. And to think tomorrow, after the wedding, there was suppose to be a big reception party! There was going to be howling, and caribou..."

Oscar's ears perked up. "Caribou? Did you say caribou? I love caribou! We all do!"

"Ahh yes." Duke nodded. "Caribou is very popular amongst both wolves and cougars."

"Boys, be quiet!" snapped Harrison, quickly shutting them up.

Harrison turned back to the wolves. "Where would you even get the idea that sliding down this mountain is a good idea? I mean look at it. It's steep, rocky, covered in sharp rocks, I mean a log sled ride down it is suicide. There's absolutely no way... that... you... would... survive..." His voice trailed off at these last few words.

Suddenly, something completely unexpected happened. Harrison started laughing. He was cackling uncontrollably, as if someone was tickling him. He suddenly grabbed Humphrey around the shoulders, and hugged him close while he continued laughing.

Humphrey, who was completely freaked out by this big, scary, old, muscular cat suddenly hugging him, whom a second ago was contemplating his death, first sat awkwardly for a second, then figured he should stay on his good side. He forced himself to laugh, and hugged Harrison back.

"Guys, I think we better laugh too." Shakey whispered to the guys. With that, everyone else tried to think of something funny, or forced laughter, and started laughing along with everyone. Even Bruiser and Carnage joined it, then Oscar and Duke.

At last, Harrison pulled Humphrey out of his embrace, but still held his shoulders. "Of course you can slide down my mountain, son." Harrison chuckled happily.

"Oh, great. Thanks." Humphrey forced himself to say. He was still uncomfortable with the sudden change of mood and treatment from the fierce-looking cougar.

"Actually, scratch that." Oscar piped up. "We will let you slide down our mountain, if you let us come to your wedding and have some of that tasty caribou."

"What?" asked Garth astonished.

"Do we have a deal?"

Garth turned to Humphrey. Humphrey looked to his sides to see the omegas and the birds staring at him, waiting for his response. Humphrey thought for a second. He did not want anything to spoil his wedding with Kate, least of all a battle with cougars. And he did not know how everyone in the pack would react to it. But at this point, it seemed either make the deal or die.

"If you guys come, will you behave yourselves?"

"Absolutely. No commotions at all." replied Oscar, his voice true and honest. "You won't even know we're there."

"...Alright. Deal." Humphrey said at last.

"Yeah! Woo! Hoo!" Shakey cheered. The other omegas all started cheering that they would be allowed to ride. They all did their howl wave, similar to the one they did in the movie. Garth simply smiled, satisfied that they would live a little longer.

"Well, looks like this might work out after all, eh, Paddy?" Marcel chuckled.

"Ah yes. We may get through this after all, sir." Paddy replied.

"What? You mean we _still_ don't get to splatter anyone?" Sneered Carnage as he threw down a fist.

"There, there, Carnage." Bruiser whispered in a comforting voice. "Let it all out." He gave his brother a pat on the back.

Oscar turned around to see Harrison glaring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"First of all, how many times have I told you know making deals when I have it under control?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"Second, you know these guys are going to die on the ride, so why make the deal?"

"Oh, right." Oscar glanced off, forgetting that little flaw in his plan.

"Super. Thank you sir." Garth said to Harrison. "All we need now is a log sled."

"You mean you didn't bring one up with you?" Harrison asked in an irritated voice.

"Well, what were we suppose to do? Drag a log all the way up here?" Shakey replied.

"Hmm. Point taken." Harrison muttered.

"Sir, we could use one of the old dead trees up on the ridge and make a sled out of that." Oscar suggested.

"Well, we were saving those for when _we_ needed them, but we haven't ever really needed them. Okay then."

"Wow, that's nice of you to give us a sled." commented Mooch.

"Yes. Right this way, boys." and with that, Harrison stood up, turned around, and walking past the mouth of the cave, heading further up the path. Oscar and Duke turned to follow as well.

"Looks like this is going to work out guys." Humphrey said to the party.

"You the dog Humphrey!" Salty cheered. Everyone else started cheering and laughing too. "Good show, my boy!" laughed Marcel.

"Get Moving!" shouted Carnage angrily as he pushed Mooch ahead. And with that, everyone started heading after Harrison and Oscar.

"If I don't get to kill one of those wolves soon, I'm gonna go insane!" hissed Carnage.

"Remember your happy place Carnage." said Bruiser as they started walking after the party.

"WHY do you ALWAYS have to be happy?" Carnage sneered.

* * *

Meanwhile, back down in the center of the valley, the thirty-something wolves of the combined pack were all gathered together, still waiting for the ride to start. Pretty much everyone had fallen asleep at this point, and were waiting for the morning when they were expecting the ride to start.

To make sure they would not miss anything, Hutch, Candu, Milo and Rocky had all decided to work in shifts. One of them would watch the party through the tubes, or binoculars, as someone said they were called. While that one was on lookout, the other three would get some sleep in. Every couple of hours, one of them would wake up and take the watch while the other got some rest. When it appeared that the party was about to start their ride, whoever was watching would wake everyone up. Everyone of the four had gone up at least once, and now it was Hutch's turn.

Hutch's mind had been racing throughout his shift. First off, even with the binoculars, the wolves of the party were just specs, and he could only get the general idea of what they were doing. It was like trying to watch a few squirrels pick up nuts down in the valley from atop a cliff, with the tree being about half a few dozen yards away.

Hutch knew that they were all being very savage here. Gambling with meat on who they wanted to die? These were their friends they were talking about, _his_ friends. He did not really want anyone to get hurt. Deep down, he wanted everyone to come out of this alive. He prayed that they all would. He also prayed that Kate and Lilly would be able to stop them. He saw a true friend in Humphrey, and knew the pack would be very depressing and quiet without him. Same goes for the other omegas. And Garth, Garth was the future leader of the pack. They needed him. What would they do without him?

Like any good alpha or beta, Hutch wanted what was best for the pack. He had spent most of his life working for Winston, following his orders, reporting any kind of situation to him, and of course helping to lead the rest of the pack and keep everyone safe and happy. Winston trusted Hutch, and Hutch was proud to be his second in command.

And now look at him. He was here, gambling with meat on whether or not his friends would survive a log sled ride down Pyramid Mountain. What would Winston say about this if he knew about it? Even more worrisome, what would Eve say? What would she do? Just the thought of that sent shivers down Hutch's spine.

The sun was finally starting to rise. Rays of light peaked over the edge of the mountains in the horizon, wiping the dark shadows of the night away, brightening up the trees and grass. The morning dew shone and sparkled on the grass.

Because it was much higher up, the sun had started to shine on Pyramid Mountain much earlier than the rest of the valley. Hutch was grateful for this. The mountain was clearer this way. It was easier to Humphrey and the wolves that way. They were still very small in his view, but at least now their moving bodies of fur did not blend in with the rocks and snow. He had seen them start walking with Harrison and some other cougars, meaning that they were indeed caught. Since they were walking up the mountain rather than fighting, it must have meant that Harrison had agreed to let them slide down the mountain, and now they were on the way to get a log sled. Or at least, that's what Hutch was hoping for.

Suddenly, Hutch heard some stirring and groaning. He looked to his side and saw Milo slowly getting up. Most gammas were usually not awake this early, but that was Milo for you; almost always on the move. Chelsea had not slept next to him. Evidently, she was still mad at him for putting so much on the line without her consent.

Milo got up and stretched a bit, licked his lips, and turned towards Hutch. "Morning Hutch. How's it going? How are they doing?" he asked groggily.

"I think they just met Harrison, and they're going to get a log sled." Hutch whispered back, quietly so as not to disturb anyone else who was sleeping. He handed the binoculars to Milo so he could have a look.

"So they're getting on? Woo hoo!"

"SHHH!" Hutch snapped before he got too loud.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Too late. A couple of wolves in the pack had awoken. A few of them proceeded to wake up some of their friends or family members. The pups slowly stirred awake and yawned. Before long, the whole pack was awake and chatting, and they quickley remembered why they were out in the valley instead of in their dens. They remembered what they were waiting for, and turend to the quartet in the center.

Hutch, Milo, and Candu were awake by now, but Rocky was still sound asleep, though he was stirring a bit as though he were having a nightmare. Candu came to his side.

"Rocky, buddy. Time to get up." he said. He nudged his side with his muzzle.

Rocky bolted up almost immediatly as Candu touched him. "AHH! Tony! I didn't do it! I swear!" he screamed. He suddenly looked about him, at the rest of his pack, all staring at him awkwardly like he was insane. "Oh, morning guys." Rocky said awkwardly as he sat down on his haunches.

"Chill Bro!" Milo said calmingly. "It's all good."

But Milo couldn't be more wrong. After a minute, a row in the crowd opened up, and in came Winston, followed by Eve and Tony. All of them glared at the quartet in the middle of the crowd.

"Hutch! What the devil is going on here?" Winston demanded.

"Wha-What do you mean, sir?" Hutch replied.

"I mean why is the whole pack still out here, and all the meat too?"

"We let you all stay out late because last night was a big party, true." Tony followed up. "But we were expecting everyone to be back at the dens in the morning at least."

"And where are Kate and Lilly?" Asked Eve as she was giving a head count. "And Garth? And Humphrey? And the other omegas?"

"My lady, they are up on Pyramid Mountain." Hutch replied. He did not want to see their reaction, but he also did not want to lie or hide anything from them. In alpha school, he had learned to put his duties and loyalty ahead of his emotions, especially in front of the head alpha.

"What? In Harrison's territory?" Winston exclaimed. "What are they all doing up there?"

"Well, Humphrey and the guys were going to go log sledding, and the girls are going to stop them, we hope." Reba spoke up from the front row.

"WHAT?" Exclaimed Tony angrily, turning to Hutch. "And you just let them go?"

"Believe me, sir. I tried to get them to see it was crazy, but they just went on." replied Hutch.

"Yeah, I tried to stop them too." Candu followed up.

"And me." said Milo.

"I tried to talk sense into them too." said Rocky.

"No you didn't." scoffed Milo. "You just sat there and listened. And you're the one who came up with this whole gambling idea!"

"Gambling idea?" Winston asked confused.

"Well, you see, we're..." Milo was afraid to go on much further. He did not have to. Chelsea spoke up for him, evident that she was still angry with him.

"We're all placing bets on who we think will survive the ride, if they do get ride. My idiot mate here bet FIVE caribou on all of them." Milo did not say anything. He just looked down at his paws and groaned.

The three leaders were baffled by what was going on, and exchanged worried looks. Tony was astonished that Garth would not try to stop the omegas, let alone join them on this stupid plan. He was disappointed in his son. He had tried to let Garth have some free time and fun by letting him join Humphrey for this party, and he goes off and does this? Right when he's about to become the new pack leader? Tony had a feeling omegas would be a bad influence on Garth, but not this much.

Finally, Winston raised his voice to the foursome. "And you're all here, _hoping_ they will die so you can get more meat? What is wrong with you wolves?"

"We were just trying to have some fun..." Candu said.

"Fun?"

"Well, they're going up for a fun ride, just to have fun, it's not like they're intentionally committing suicide. He he..." Milo squeaked.

"You think this is a joke?" Snapped Eve. "My daughters could have been ripped apart by the cougars by now!"

"Eve, try to calm down." Winston said. "Kate is strong. She can fend for herself and Lilly... no matter how tough Harrison's gang is." his voice began to lose certainty on those last words.

"When we spoke to them, Humphrey said that they have a plan for getting through everything." Hutch continued. "They seemed pretty confident. I think they have a shot of making it."

"I knew this was Humphrey's idea." spat Eve. "That boy... he better hope he dies on that ride because he survives, I'll..."

"EVE!" Winston scolded. "You don't know Humphrey as well as I do." He himself began to relax as she did. "He's a fun-loving omega. He may be a little irresponsible sometimes, and he may not always think everything through, and he sometimes put his own needs ahead of the pack..." he realized he was talking more about Humphrey's flaws than his good qualities, and picked himself up.

"But, Humphrey would never put his friends in mortal danger without a plan of some sort. I'm certain he will get everyone out of this alive. They will all be fine."

"Your omega better do that, Winston." Tony said menacingly. "You know what I'm going to do if your son-in-law causes the death of my son?"

"It won't be anything worse than what I'll do to you with that attitude." growled Eve.

"Both of you, come to your senses!" Winston shouted. "I know we're all scared for them, but there's nothing we can do for them right now. All we can do is watch. Arguing won't help."

"He's right." said Reba, who poked out from the side, Janice at her side, Lifty and Shifty on their shoulders.

Winston looked over at Janice. "Janice, are you okay? Are you worried about Shakey?" he asked as softly and fatherly as he could. Janice nodded her head.

"They will all be fine. I'm sure of it." He repeated.

"In that case Winston," said Rocky, interrupting, "How would you like to place a bet on all of them? And join Milo?" After a few seconds of glaring from Winston, Rocky's giggling settled down.

"Rocky, do you really want any of them to die? These are your friends we are talking about!" Winston scolded. "You think a few more pounds of meat is worth the life of someone you love? Or do you really not care for any of them?" And then he turned around to the rest of the pack. "And this goes for the rest of you. I am disappointed in all of you. We're suppose to be a pack, a family. And you all think this is a game, that the deaths of some of our most beloved friends will mean more meat for you, I find that disturbing. Don't you realize that if this messes up, any one of them could die! They will be DEAD! Gone! Lost to us! No more Humphrey, Garth, Shakey, Salty, or Mooch. Now ask yourselves. Is that what you really want? For them all to die so you can have more meat that there is already plenty of to go around?"

This aroused some chatter amongst the wolves, they were seeming to start to come to their senses on what they were doing. And then Winston continued.

"Do you love Mooch?" He shouted. A few member of the pack chanted "Yeah!" like a row in the bleachers of a football stadium.

"Do you love Salty?" Winston continued. More of the pack chanted "Yeah!", this time louder.

"Do you love Shakey?"

"Yeah!"

"Do you love Garth?"

"Yeah!"

"DO YOU LOVE HUMPHREY?"

"YEAH!"

"Then let's shape up and show our friends that we love and support them!"

And with that! the whole pack started cheering and howling with glee, though it did not last.

"Hey guys," Milo spoke up, looking up at the mountain through the binoculars. "I think they're getting close to the top." Almost immediately, everyone sat down and was quiet again, still waiting eagerly to hear what would happen next.

Winston walked back over to Eve and Tony, and sat down on his stomach next to his mate, who was still sitting up on her haunches. "Winston, honey, do you really think they'll be okay?" She whispered to him in a somewhat worried tone.

"I don't know Eve." He sighed. "But like I said before, the most we can do right now for them is listen and hope."

* * *

Carnage lashed out his large, shiny claws, and with a grunt, swiped at the tree before him. His massive claws made a slight scratch on the bark, and his paw just barely chipped away at it. The tree was about as tall as the doors of a barn, and looked fairly old. It had no leaves or flowers, and the roots were propping out from the earth, indicating that the plant was dead.

The highest point of the mountain was just a short walk up a nearby path away. The landing that they were on was fairly wide, and somewhat inward on the mountain. The walls of the mountain blocked off the wind, so they did not have to shout to communicate. There was also less snow covering the ground this time. Along side this tree was a couple of other trees and logs. While Humphrey was closer to the edge, looking out at the park below, and Duke was doing the same just along the edge, everyone else in the party was watching Carnage take down the tree. Marcel and Paddy watched in terror and in each other's wings.

Frustrated, Carnage jumped up and viscously grappled with the tree using both paws.

"This is how you can tell it's a strong tree," Oscar whispered to Salty and the other wolves. "Because Carnage here can't take it down in one swipe."

"What was that?" Carnage hissed back aggravated.

"Relax, I was complimenting you." Oscar groaned. Carnage turned back to his work.

"Do you want some help, brother?" Bruiser asked happily.

"Back off!" Carnage hissed back. "This one's mine!" As he said that, the trunk of the tree started to crack, and finally, the log snapped off and came plummeting down.

"Catch it!" Garth barked. Carnage shot to the other side of the stump, and got under the log, while Bruiser bolted to the other side, and cushioned the top of the tree. The brothers both balanced their ends of the log, and gently set it down.

"Good catch, guys." Said Salty.

"Aww, thanks." Bruiser blushed.

Just then, Duke came slithering up and called Harrison aside from everyone else, while everyone else crowded around the log. The wood was very sturdy, and there was definitely enough room for all of them on it. "So now," Shakey continued, "we just need to break off the part of the log here so we can all sit in it, and we're good to go."

"Not a problem." Oscar said. "Let's get chippin' boys." And the three cougars began clawing and chipping and breaking away the upper bark to make room for the passengers. It was a good thing this tree was hallowed. It would be perfect for taking on this ride. The wolves starting working away at their end, but Mooch suddenly pulled away, groaning, and threw up all over the ground, thankfully not getting it on anybody.

"Still poisoned?" Oscar asked.

"I'll be fine." Mooch insisted, wiping his snout on his foreleg and getting back to work. On the walk up, when they were aloud to talk, the party had told the cougars about the bachelor party and all the crazy things they did yesterday and last night. Evidently, that entailed Mooch getting drunk. Mooch was completely sober at this point, but he still threw up every now and then, though not very often.

"So what is it, Duke?" Harrison asked his loyal pet aside from the others.

"It would seem we have more company, sir." Duke replied cheerfully. "Looking off over the edge, I was, when I looked down and saw two more lovely wolves coming our way."

"More?" Harrison asked, evidently annoyed. "Describe them."

"Both of them I believe to be females, and quite young still. One twas of golden fur that doth shame the sun. The other white as the snow that rests upon this peak."

"Kate and Lilly..." Harrison said, more to himself than to Duke. "They must be coming to talk some sense into their mates. If they arrive, they might actually do so, and ruin everything." Harrison thought for another second, then sparked an idea. "No matter. We'll double our success today." He turned back toward the boys working on the log, and called Carnage over.

"Carnage, you still want to maul a wolf, right?" Harrison asked.

"Yes..." Carnage replied, sounding intrigued.

"Well, now's your chance. It seems we have a couple more guests, why don't you, greet them."

"You mean _my_ greet or _greet_ greet?"

"Your greet."Harrison grinned wickedly at him.

"OH YEAH!" Carnage cheered, an equally menacing grin on his face, and bloodthirst in his eyes. "It's clobberin' time, baby!" Excited, Carnage bounded off back down the path they had come from, and started heading down toward the two girl wolves. As Harrison watched him off, he noticed Humphrey sitting out by the edge by himself. Curious, he trotted over to him, with Duke slithering in beside him.

"Something troubling you, son?" Harrison asked.

Humphrey turned to face him. "It-It's nothing. I'm fine." He stuttered. He then sat up and started walking over past Harrison to the others to join in on making the sled. Harrison shrugged as Humphrey walked past him. He honestly did not care that much what was bothering him, and much less wanted to listen to him.

"Okay, I'll tell you." Humphrey said as he suddenly turned around to face Harrison again. He spoke as though Harrison had been begging him to talk. Harrison sighed and sat down as Humphrey came over again and spoke.

"All I wanted from this party was to do some memorable things to remind me of the fun times I have with my friends. I don't want anyone to get hurt. And now that I've thought about it, there's a good chance everyone could get hurt here. I thought maybe we would be okay if we stuck with some plans we made, but now I'm not so sure. And another thing, what would Kate say if she knew what I was doing. What would she think of me? What would she do to me? I'm not sure I want to go through with this anymore. Maybe we should all just turn around and go home while we still have our heads."

Harrison thought for a second. Normally, he would prove that it was already too late to turn back (which it was), and that he was going to put Humphrey through this by force if he had to, but he was in a good mood, so he decided to act kind towards the wolves, just for the time being.

"Ahh, yes," Duke spoke up. "As Dante would put it, you are at the midpoint on the journey of life young wolf, and now you find yourself in a dark forest, the clear path, lost to you!"

"Duke," Harrison muttered, annoyed, "Why don't you go see how Oscar is doing?"

"Ah yes, of course." Duke replied, as he slithered away to join the rest of the group.

"Well, Humphrey," Harrison said in a fatherly manner, "about what Kate would think, let me give you a little marriage advice." He put his large, cougar arm around Humphrey, which startled him at first. "You must never allow your mate to control you. She is not your master, she is not your mother, and she is not your owner. Always remember that you have your rights. You have every right to go out and have fun with your friends, and are taking that right into account here."

"But what if she's angry at me for making such a stupid move? What will she think of me? I mean you have to admit, once you think about it, this is pretty stupid." Humphrey was still uncomfortable that this large cat that was one of his mortal enemies still had his arm around him.

"Well, again. Just assert yourself as having just as much power in the relationship as she does, perhaps more. Who is she to tell you what to do? Just use that thinking to prove that you are her equal, and she will be reminded on how intelligent and independent you really are."

"Okay, I guess... What about how I might possibly get all my friends killed here?"

"Well, from what you've told me about your thoughts earlier yesterday, you just want to have fun because once you and Kate are married, you will have to take certain factors into consideration, and take life more seriously and responsibly. So there will be a limit on all the stupid things you can do with your friends, right? So you should enjoy this while you can. Make the most of it, because come tomorrow, you may not get another chance to do this."

"But what if any of my friends get hurt? Or worse? I'll never forgive myself if any of them die on this."

"Well then, try to make sure none of you die on this." _As if you can help it._ He then thought to himself. _There's no way any of you will survive this. You should have thought about that before you entered my domain._ "But again, just try to have fun with it. Death of a friend I can understand, but no harm if someone gets a broken leg or looses an eye? Right? And you said you have a 'plan' to cheat Death, right? Well, with a genius brain such as yours, I'm sure there's no way any of you can die."

"Okay..."

"So, stop worrying, and enjoy the last few minutes of complete and utter freedom you have." _And the last few minutes of your life, you worthless mutt!_ And with that, Harrison lifted his heavy foreleg off of Humphrey, and trotted on over to the rest of party.

Humphrey stayed and thought to himself for a minute. He had appreciated Harrison's advice. If he was going to take any marriage advice from anyone, he had wanted it to be Winston, and perhaps Eve, though her advice would probably be little more than threats and warnings. Ever since his own parents died, Winston had almost been a second father to Humphrey, and he could not be happier now that Winston was to be his father-in-law. He would definitely ask Winston for his advice sometime on the day of the wedding.

He was sure that Winston's advice would be much different than Harrison's, and between the two, Humphrey would go with Winston. Still, he did take into account Harry's suggestions, and thought about using them himself. If Kate did know about this, next time he saw her, he would try to stand up to her for scolding him. He would show her that he did have a beta's spine.

"Humphrey, come on!" Garth's call interrupted his thoughts.

"The sled's ready!" Shakey followed up. "Help us push it up to the top."

Humphrey looked over at the party and saw that the top of the log was chipped off, and the sled was ready for riding. Bruiser, Garth, Mooch, and Salty were all pushing it width-wise up the path, heading up towards the top.

Humphrey smiled. He decided to do what Harrison said, and just enjoy this moment with his friends, so he skipped up ahead to join them, when he suddenly noticed something.

"Hey, where's that big guy?" he suddenly asked everyone. The wolves and birds looked confused for a second, not knowing either, and they turned to Harrison.

"Carnage? well, he, uh... I sent him to get us some breakfast." He finally stammered.

"Oh, thanks, we're starving!" said Mooch.

"Yeah, we haven't eaten since lunch yesterday." Salty added.

"I do hope he knows _we_ don't eat meat." Marcel whispered to Paddy.

"Might I recommend a condor egg?" said Duke. "Such scrumptious delicacies those are. And healthy ones, too."

"Oh, thank you," replied Paddy awkwardly, "But we prefer to stick to plants, if its all the same to you."

"Well, you sure as heck won't find any of those up here!" Duke giggled.

* * *

Kate looked up ahead while she waited for Lilly to catch up, and caught her own breath. She was not that far behind, only about a few leaps up a staircase of rocks. They had been climbing for a very long time, and have not rested since the sun came up. They were very high up now. The top of the mountain loomed just about another hour's worth of hiking. They were right about to get off the staircase, and go up another wide horizontal trail.

Both girls were tired and sweating. Kate had been trained to keep her stamina up on these long hikes, so she was still doing okay. She was also fueled by her anger at Humphrey, and her need to stop him. _Oh, Good. We're almost at the top._ She thought in the back of her head looking up at the mountain_.__ Humphrey, you better still be alive!_ Lilly on the other hand, was exhausted, and every now and then fell farther and farther behind her sister, even though she felt just as angry Garth still.

She hopped up the last couple of rock stairs, breathing heavily. "Kate," She panted, "Can we take another break? I'm exhausted."

"No. Look. We're so close now." Kate answered, making Lilly look up at the top. "They can't be too much farther up ahead." She put her head to the ground and took another sniff. "Their scent is still strong too."

"Okay..." Lilly said sluggishly, and started to walk ahead, when her sister suddenly put her paw up, stopping her.

"Wait a minute." She said, suddenly more serious, and a stern look on her face. "We got company." Kate indeed heard someone coming. Something big, heavy, and fast, charging down the wall. It took Lilly a second, but she heard it after a second too. What was it? Most cougars did not make such loud noises when they ran. They were very light on their feet, silent hunters.

"Look out!" Kate suddenly barked, and pushed her sister back, jumping out of the way herself. Just in time to avoid a massive body that slid down from the the wall above. The girls looked back up at the biggest, most muscular cougar they had ever seen with golden-brown fur. His ears pointed down, and green eyes filled with rage, the big cat screamed at them, showing his large fangs in his large mouth. When his short scream finished, he purred defensively at them.

Kate stood up, faced the beast, growled, and braced herself to fight. "Lilly, stay back." She hissed back to her sister. Lilly was horrified at the sight of the massive predator. With a soft whimper, she shrank back.

"Where is Humphrey?" Kate demanded. "What have you done to him?"

"Humphrey?" said Carnage. "Oh, you mean that wolf pup and his little buddies?" He started giggling. "They're alive, for now. The guys are taking them up to the top. Those idiots are going to go log sledding down the mountain!"

Some relief swelled in Kate's heart. She was glad Humphrey and the guys were alright, that these beasts have not killed them... yet. Behind her, Lilly smiled slightly. She was happy Garth was okay. Still, Kate was careful not to show her emotion in front of Carnage.

"Let us through!" She barked.

"No way." he hissed back. "I don't know how any of you got passed Pete, but you're not getting passed me!"

Kate growled with annoyance. "Fine. Come on!" And hunkered down into her stance.

Carnage sprang forward, his large, muscular paws out. He swiped at Kate, but she ducked out just in time. Carnage continued to swipe at her, trying to claw at her head, but she skillfully dodged out of his reach. She suddenly jumped onto the mountain wall, and leaped off from it, getting behind the big cat. Before he could turn around, she bit hard into his hind leg, tasting his blood. Carnage screeched in pain, and lifted his paw to swat the wolf away, but she let go and jumped back before it could land.

_This guy is more about strength than speed._ Kate thought. Thank God. Since he's slower, this should be easier than facing a normal, more agile cougar. I just can't let him get a hold of me. Like any cougar, his claws are his deadliest weapons.

Enraged now, Carnage screamed and leaped at her again, swiping at her in a frenzy. Kate dodged, hopped, summersaulted, and barrel rolled to avoid his blows. Meanwhile, Lilly watched the battle from back, terrified, watching helplessly as Kate fought the monstrous cat for her life, and hers. Every passing second, she became more desperate and determined to help her sister. But she knew she could not just jump into the fray; she would only get in Kate's way if she did that. She frantically looked around the trail for something she could use. And suddenly, she looked up on the wall, just up on the ledge was a large pile of snow, appearing to start sloping downward. A strong vibration could send the whole pile sliding down...

Carnage had Kate backed up against the edge now. He took one last swipe, and she slipped off. She managed to grab onto the edge with her front paws. Carnage prepared to strike her again, but with great acrobatic ease, she cartwheeled off to the side, dodging his paw, and jumped back up onto the ledge. While Carnage was still turned toward the edge, she jumped onto his back, and clung to it with her own claws. Her jaws reached for the back of his neck, but before they made contact, she felt his big, heavy paw grip the back of her own neck, claws pinching the skin, and with brute force, he pried her off his back and hurled her into the mountain wall. She smacked against the wall on her right side with a 'thud'. She landed against the hard stone floor for a moment. She looked up dizzy, and saw two of the giant cougar coming toward her.

Carnage stood over Kate. Finally, he had her cornered. She was down and dizzy, and backed up against the wall. She could not dodge this. He lifted his paw to strike the final blow.

"Hey Cougar!" a voice suddenly shouted, stopping his paw. Carnage and Kate looked up on the wall where the voice came from, on the top of the ledge, they saw Lilly, standing right next to the big pile of snow. "You need to chill out!" She banged her paw against the rocks next to her, starting a light vibration, and suddenly, the snow started to slip down the wall.

"Uh-Oh." Carnage muttered. Before he could say anything else or make another move, the snow crumbled down and quickly buried him underneath. Kate took advantage of the opportunity to get up and out of the way before she was buried as well.

Kate quickly took a second to catch her breath and watch over the buried cougar, to make sure he would not get up. Lilly hopped down the cliff and up to her. Neither of them wanted to stick around to see if he would get up, so they both charged ahead up the trail.

"Great move Lilly! You showed that cat who's boss!" Kate said proudly to her sister as they ran up. "And thanks for saving me."

"Is he dead?" Lilly asked nervously.

"No. Not even close. That will just hold him down for a minute. Come on! Let's get ahead while we can!" And Kate charged ahead up the path, Lilly following close beside her.

"Wow, a minute ago you were too tired to keep going." Kate said jokingly.

"Well, that guy was pretty scary."

"Yeah, he was. But you beat him!"

"You did most of the fighting."

"You finished him! You should be proud Lilly. Not a lot of omegas can say they brought down a cougar. And that was a funny line there: 'you need to chill out.' You usually don't come up with such good quirky one-liners."

"Well, I guess I learned a thing or two from Humphrey."

"Humphrey..." Kate's mind went back to the matter at hand: finding Humphrey, Garth, and the boys and teaching them a lesson. She turned back to the road and kept running. Lilly followed closely, herself being reminded of their task. Every step they took brought them closer to the top.

* * *

Up on the flattest surface at the top of the mountain, where the snow was being blown westward by the wind, the log sled was being set down ready to be launched. The heavy grey blanket that the wolves had been carrying was unfolded at spread out on the inside of the log, acting as a cushion it seemed. Humphrey was sitting in the front seat, right in front of Salty. Behind Salty was Shakey, then Garth, then Marcel and Paddy, and ending with Mooch at the end. Oscar was sitting in front of the log, giving a few quick instructions. Luckily, the wind was not blowing as strong, so he did not have to shout too much.

"For your safety, and the safety of others, please keep your paws, snouts, forepaws, hind legs, tails, and wings inside the log at all times. In the highly likely event of an emergency, put your head between your legs, and-"

"-kiss your tail goodbye." Duke finished.

Oscar cleared his throat and continued after being interrupted. "We thank you for choosing Pyramid Mountain, and we you enjoy the ride before you crash and die."

The wolves and birds all chuckled somewhat together. They all thought Oscar was kidding around, plus they knew how crazy this actually was.

"I do have a question though." Said Harrison, who was sitting next to Bruiser, a few feet back away from the log. "What is the point of that blanket you're all sitting on?"

"What, this?" Garth answered, "It's just for comfort."

"Yeah, we don't want our butts to get splinters." added Shakey.

Harrison and Bruiser exchanged confused looks. "Okay, whatever floats your boat." Harrison finally said.

Humphrey looked around him. He looked down at the beautiful wilderness that was Jasper National Park, his home, the land he grew up in. The land was so very green, with miles of green grass, and billions of tall evergreen trees. Many mountains and hills could be seen, both on the horizon, and closer. In the distance, he saw rivers and lakes, all filled with luminescent water that mirrored the blue, sunny morning sky. A few flocks of wild geese flew across the park in an arrow-shaped formation.

He could see the dens of the western pack, as well as the easterns' just a few miles across. He could see the hills on which he and his friends have sled down on in their puppy days. Seemed now everything they learned from that was about to be put to the test. He could see the valley in which the hunt groups hunted caribou. He could see howling rock, on which he had gone to countless moonlight howls, and howled with his friends, a few omega girls who liked him, and recently other girls and Kate. Howling with those girls were fun, but none of them compared to Kate. Her howl was beautiful. Humphrey had hit on her for many howls in their puppyhood days, but of course he was not allowed to be near her for too long.

And suddenly, Humphrey thought. What was he doing? He was about to throw his great life away, and right before he married the only girl he ever loved. He was about to say goodbye to all of these magnificent wonders, to all of his friends who adored him. What was he thinking when he added "Pyramid Mountain Log Slide" to the party activity list? Hell, he even wrote it himself instead of having Paddy do it and let him know about it.

He looked behind him to his line of closest friends. They all looked nervous themselves. They all knew the feeling he was feeling. They were all thinking about how much they loved life, and how close they were now to losing it.

Humphrey thought of Garth. He was soon to be the new leader of the united pack, and he had Lilly to be his beautiful, lucky mate, whom he loved very much, and wanted to live a long, happy life with her. Humphrey thought of Shakey, and how much he loved Janice, and how they were going to bring about a line of vegetarian wolves. He thought of Salty, who had finally gotten a girlfriend. About Mooch who was still looking for one himself. Marcel and Paddy who still had to find ones themselves, and play Golf with Winston and Tony after they retired. Humphrey had asked all of these good men to risk death for him, to risk throwing away all of their futures and dreams for him. _How could I be so selfish?_ Humphrey thought. _Am I really such a bad person?_

If they had any qualms about this ride, which they all did, they were at their highest point now. But it was far too late to back down now. They had come this far, the cougars now were forcing them to go through. Still, they knew the actual point of no return was once they slipped of this mountain top. Humphrey could not see the down the slope where he was sitting, for the cougars still had to push the log off the edge, but he could tell it was going to be a big drop. He gripped the sides of log more tightly.

"What's the matter, Humphrey?" Salty said cheerfully, interrupting his thoughts. "Don't tell me you're _suddenly_ afraid of heights!"

"What? No, no way!" Humphrey replied, followed by everyone in the rear laughing.

_Keep the negatives out of your head!_ Humphrey told himself. We can get through this! As long as we work together, and we stick to our plan, we can do this.

"Okay then," Harrison spoke up. "Are we ready to get this show on the slope?"

"Wait a minute." Said Mooch. "I thought you said Carnage was getting us breakfast."

"Oh, right." Harrison stuttered a second. "It seems that incompetent forgot about it. My apologies."

"Can we please have something to eat before we go?" Shakey asked.

"Yeah, we're all really hungry." Garth added.

"Very well." Harrison sighed. "Oscar, go get a condor quick, will you?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Oscar replied. Oscar ran off, as quick as he could. About two minutes later, he returned with two condors in his jaws. He laid they out next to the log. "Eat." He said.

The wolves all hopped down out of the log, and dug in. The condors were actually pretty tasty. They were not very warm, so they must have been old ones that were kept in the cave. Another five minutes, and the wolves had all had their fill of them, and nothing was left of them but the beaks, legs, and bones.

"I trust you all enjoyed your meal?" asked Harrison as the wolves had a minute to sit down and let the food settle.

"Yep, I think so." Garth replied, and the other wolves all nodded and said "yep" in agreement.

"What about us?" asked Marcel, a little frustrated.

"Sorry, we don't have anything for your kind." Oscar said to them.

"WHY, That's racist!" Marcel snapped at him.

"No, its the fact that there are no plants up here." Oscar snapped back, offended. "I'm sorry, but we don't have anything you can eat."

"Ah, I see. Forgive my outburst." Marcel replied awkwardly.

"Okay then, now that you've eaten, are we ready for the ride?" Harrison asked.

"No, not yet." Salty said quick, and put his paw on his stomach.

"Now what?" Harrison asked, his voice sounding a bit impatient.

"I have to go."

"What do you mean go?"

"Number two, and a big one I think."

Harrison slapped his head around his eyes, and shook his head. "Make it quick."

"What, here? I can't go now in front of everyone!"

"Go behind that rock over there!" Harrison snapped, and pointed over to a large, jagged rock about the size of a bear. Salty could go in privacy behind it, hidden from the party. So Salty ran over to behind the rock. "The rest of you, take your seats!" Harrison growled back to the others. His booming voice obviously scared them all, for they scrambled to their seats, in the same order as before.

Another couple of minutes, and Salty was done, so he slowly and calmly walked back up to the log, and took his seat in between Humphrey and Shakey. His odor was a tad bit stronger from the dump he just took. "Much better." He said.

"Okay, looks like we are ready to go." Harrison observed. "Bruiser."

"Oh, good, pushing time!" Bruiser giggled. He trotted on over behind the log, spat into his paws, then rubbed them together.

"Alright, on the count of three, shove them off!" Harrison ordered as Bruiser gripped the end of the sled. "Three... Two..."

"Wait a minute!" Humphrey shouted. He suddenly had an idea.

"What?" Harrison demanded, frustrated because his goal was so close.

"Uh, I kind of need to pee too." Humphrey said, raising his paw.

"Gah! Fine! Hurry up!" Although Harrison was furious about this, the other wolves and birds did not seem to mind the delays. Humphrey hopped out of the log, and ran behind the jagged rock again.

"Wow Salty, that is a big one!" He laughed.

"I know, right?" Everyone else started laughing at the joke.

"Just go!" Barked Harrison.

Another few seconds, and Humphrey came out again from behind the rock and back to his seat in the front. "Anyone _else_ need to use the rock?" Harrison asked.

Much to his annoyance, suddenly everyone else in the party had to go. It took about ten minutes for everyone to go. Salty actually had to go a second time.

"Why do you need to go more than I do?" Mooch asked Salty. "I've seen you. You don't eat as much as I do." Salty just shrugged.

"Okay, that's it right?" Harrison said in an annoyed tone. "No one has to go again?"

"I kind of have to go actually." Oscar squeaked up.

"Me too." Said Bruiser.

"You two can hold it!" Harrison roared loudly, silencing both of them. Recollecting himself, he turned back to the wolves. "Okay then, are we ready to go?"

"Oooo! Hehehehehehehehe!" a creepy, yet familiar giggle suddenly sounded on the trail, coming up to greet everyone. Up trotted a ragged, fatigued Pete, his crazy goggly eyes bouncing in their sockets.

The wolves and birds all exchanged worried glances as to what Pete's reaction to seeing them all would be. Was he here to rip them to pieces for escaping him before?

"Hey, Pete!" Oscar called to him. "Come to join the party?"

Pete responded with a louder, more hysterical cackle. He made his way over to Harrison, Duke and Oscar, and took a seat next to Oscar.

"I guess that's a yes." Oscar replied cooly.

The wolves and birds all exhaled and started giggling. They were relieved that Pete was not there to fight.

"Again," Harrison continued, angry from the second interruption, "Are we ready, now?"

Humphrey looked over his shoulder back at his friends. They all had a slight hint of nervousness on their faces, but in an instant, those faces became serious, determined. The faces of brave warriors about to charge into battle, confident of winning. Garth nodded to Humphrey, and the omegas and birds nodded as well. Salty gave Humphrey a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Alright. We're ready!" Humphrey said to Harrison, his voice also full of pride and confidence.

"Super!" He replied. "Bruiser!"

"On it." Bruiser gripped the sides of the bottom of the log again, behind Mooch, bracing himself to shove it off.

"On the count of three again."

* * *

"Okay, they're back in the log again!" Candu exclaimed, back down in the valley, looking through the binoculars. "A big cougar is backing them up... I think they're about to launch!" The other wolves fell silent at the last words.

* * *

"One..."

Humphrey grinned back at his friends. They could tell it was time, and they were ready. As long as they stayed together and worked together, they would make it through. They could feel it.

"Two..."

Humphrey looked ahead at the wide, beautiful range of Jasper Park, and prepared to look down. He anxiously braced himself for an explosion of wind against his face. _Alright, Bring it on!_ he barked in his head.

"Thr-"

"HUMPHREY!" shouted a very angry voice.

Humphrey's eyes suddenly widened in horror. He could recognize that voice in any case.

"Oh, now what?" grumbled Harrison, turning around to face the source of the voice. He was surprised to see whose it was. The other cougars who looked also looked surprised.

It was Kate. She charged triumphantly up the trial until she had reached to top of the surface, and the whole party could see her clearly. Closely behind her followed Lilly. If she was tired, she did not show it. When they both reached the top of the trail, and saw the boys still on the edge, not launched, they slowed down to a trot. Both of them had furious expressions on their faces.

"Humphrey! Get over here right now!" Kate ordered.

"You too, Garth!" Lilly followed up.

Humphrey glanced at his friends. They all looked just as horrified as he. Salty shrugged. Shakey shook his head. Mooch did nothing. Marcel gestured with his wing to get out and go talk to Kate. Deep down, Humphrey knew there was no avoiding it. He had to face Kate now.

Taking a deep breath, he shrunk out of his seat, and slowly trotted over towards Kate. Garth knew there was no avoiding Lilly either, so he jumped out of his seat, and followed Humphrey up.

* * *

"Oh, they're dead." Said Candu. "Kate and Lilly just caught up to them."

"You mean they killed them already?" Claw asked, getting excited.

"Huh? No. They just caught up. They haven't done anything yet. They're just getting them out of the log now."

"Oh." Claw sounded disappointed.

* * *

"Hey, wait a minute," Harrison asked, suddenly suspicious, "how did you get passed Carnage?"

"Yeah, what did you do to my brother!" Bruiser demanded, getting angry.

"Oh, he's still alive." Kate replied. "We just buried him in the snow."

"Buried?" Oscar asked. "Boss, you want us to take these two out?" He glanced over at Pete and Bruiser, who were already looking bloodthirsty.

"No." Harrison replied. "Let's wait a second Oscar. I want to see how this plays out."

Kate was relieved that Harrison was willing to give them a second. She turned back to Humphrey, staring daggers at him as he finally strode up to her, Garth at his side.

He suddenly forced himself to smile. "Hey, Kate." He looked behind her to Lilly. "Hey Lilly." Of course, their expressions did not change.

"What, do you think, you're doing?" Kate hissed through clenched teeth.

"Going for a log ride...?" Humphrey replied, in an uncertain tone.

"On Pyramid Mountain? Humphrey, what is wrong with you? You could have gotten yourself and all your friends killed! What if you pissed of the cougars? The pack would have been in serious trouble! What are you thinking?"

"I just wanted to go and have some fun for my bachelor party?" Humprhey whimpered.

"And what about you Garth?" Lilly spoke up. "I thought you of all wolves would try to stop these guys, not join in!"

"Like Humphrey said." replied Garth, "I just thought it would be fun. But listen, we-"

"Absolutely not!" Kate barked. "This party is over! You're coming right home with me this minute!" She reached forward and grabbed Humphrey's left ear in her jaws. She started pulling him with her as she began to head back down the trail. "Ow, Ow!" Humphrey hissed. Her teeth cut slightly into his ear. Not so much as to make him bleed, but enough so that he could not escape her grasp.

"Come on, Garth." Lilly bit onto Garth's ear as well, and pulled him along. Of course he could have overpowered her, but he could not do that to his beloved mate, even if she was being a little bossy.

"Call over your friends, and say goodbye to Harrison." Kate hissed to Humphrey through her clenched teeth.

Sadley, Humphrey raised his paw and beckoned the gang over. "Come on guys." He called moodily. He was sad about this. While he was relieved that they would not have to try and cheat Death now, he was actually starting to look forward to this ride. Going on the ultimate thrill ride that would finalize his pre-marriage plan, and now he would never get to experience it.

The guys all grumbled and moaned as they started climbing out of the log.

"Stay where you are!" Harrison ordered fiercely. Almost immediately, the wolves and birds all sat down again. Harrison turned back to Humphrey, who was looking back while still being pulled away by Kate. Humphrey looked over at him, and Harrison made a cut-throat gesture with his paw. At first, Humphrey did not understand, then Harrison winked at him, and he remembered his advice from before.

_Do not let your woman control you. Let her know that you are her equal, that she is not the boss of you._ Humphrey knew what to do. He gripped the ground with his claws until he came to a stop. Before Kate could tug him again, he pushed her muzzle off his ear with his paw. He was rough. Almost violent.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Kate asked, surprised by his sudden change in attitude.

"Look Kate. This is _my_ bachelor party, and_ I_ am going to do whatever _I_ want, with _my_ friends, alright? You don't have a say in it. I don't tell _you_ how to spend _your_ free time, do I?"

Everyone stared in silence and shock for a second. Lilly and Garth stopped also, although Lilly still gripped Garth's ear. Humphrey was the last person they all expected to have such a mood swing. It was not like him at all to become so angry and defensive so suddenly. Only Harrison looked pleased. Only he had expected Humphrey's reaction.

"Woah, Humphrey. Where did that come from?" Shakey asked from the log.

"Where do you get off talking to me like that?" Kate growled. She was not going to be spoken to like that. Not from an omega. Certainly not from her mate.

"Where do I get off? Where do you get off? Who do you think you are? My mom?"

As Kate and Humphrey continued to argue, Garth remembered something himself. He was the alpha here, and the man. Why was he letting someone as small and weak as Lilly have power over him? Even if she was starting to develop a spine in that shy omega body, it still was not enough to over power him.

He tore himself from Lilly's grip. "You know Lilly, Humphrey has a point." He said. "We are here, just us boys. I don't see how you have the right to interrupt our fun here. You should just go back to the valley and mind your own business!"

Lilly gasped. She could not believe Garth had spoken to her that way. Tears were already starting to fill in her eyes. Garth could see those tears, and suddenly, his mood went from defensive to ashamed. He did not mean to hurt Lilly. "Lilly, I-"

"Well, if you're going to hate me for doing my job and caring for you, then fine!" Lilly spat. "You're still not getting in that log!"

Garth got defensive again. "Listen, I never meant anything. I just wanted to go with Humphrey and his pals and have a good time tonight. Is that too much to ask?"

The two couples continued to argue and bicker and bark at each other. Everyone else just sat there and watched. "Should we say something?" asked Mooch, unsure.

"Oh, most definitely not." Said Marcel. "I once tried to intervene when my cousin, Bethany, and her mate were squabbling over a common marriage disagreement."

"And? How did that go?" asked Shakey.

"It didn't end well. Let's leave it at that." Marcel replied coldly.

"You're going to do this? Today? Right before our wedding?" Kate growled.

"I could have just gone on this ride with my friends, we could have been back at the bottom by now, and everything would be back on track, but no! You had to come up and crash everything!" Barked Humphrey

"Kate came up because she cares about you!" Lilly snapped.

"That's great, and now look, we're fine! Why are you still here?"

"Kate, is this what things are going to be like? Are you going to keep telling me what I can or can't do?"

"No! I just don't want anyone in the pack to get hurt! Especially you!"

Suddenly, Duke slithered up to the group. "If I may say-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Everyone snarled at him. Duke covered his mouth with his tail, and shrunk away back to Harrison's side. The couples continued to argue.

Shakey felt like he was losing his mind. He could not sit there any longer, just watching his friends argue so bitterly with their mates, possibly be about to ruin some good marriages.

"I can't take it anymore!" I snapped. "Come on guys, let's boom them!"

"Right!" Salty and Mooch both shouted as they clambered off the log.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Harrison turned to them. "Get back in the log!"

Too late. Salty and Shakey each grabbed one of Mooch's front paws, and with great effort, flung him up in the air. The cougars all stared up in confusion, not knowing what to do or how to react, or what they were doing. The arguing couples were yelling so much, they were unaware of the danger they were in.

Mooch came crashing down on all four of them. No one was hurt, badly, and that certainly interrupted them, broke up the fray. Everyone got up, moaning and dizzy. Before the bickering could start again, Shakey and Salty walked up.

"Okay guys, let's all cut it out. Take a chill pill." Salty said.

"Yeah." Shakey added. "You guys are acting like animals!"

There was a moment of awkward silence. "Okay, bad choice of words." Shakey stuttered. He took a breath, composed himself, and then spoke calmly. "Look Kate. I can see where you're coming from. You and Lilly are just trying to stop us all from getting ourselves killed, right?"

"Yeah."

"And that's totally understandable. You love all of us (Humphrey and Garth the most of course), and just don't want us to get hurt. Am I right?"

"Yeah." Kate repeated, eager to hear what Shakey would say next. "Go on."

"Now I'll admit, this whole thing was a very stupid idea that Humphrey had. But the thing is, Humphrey is getting married. He's going to be the first one of the four of us to do that. That's a big thing, you know? Thing in our gang here could be different after that. So Humphrey just wanted to do something memorable that would reflect all the fun times we've all had together."

"That's exactly what it is." Humphrey added.

"So Kate, is there anything else you want to say?"

Kate looked down for a second and sighed. All of her anger and Alpha pride suddenly washed away like a wave on the beach, and she let out her inner feelings. She finally raised her head to meet Humphrey's eyes. "Humphrey, you know I love you, right? You know that I don't ever want anything to happen to you, right? I don't know what I would do without you. I'd be lost without you. You know that right?"

"Of course Kate." Humphrey replied. "You know I love you too, right? With all my heart?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely. YOu've made that clear more than anything by now." she giggled a little. "And also, while it _is_ my responsibility to keep everyone in the pack safe, I really care about your friends too. And I don't want them to get hurt either."

"Aww, thanks Kate." Mooch squeaked.

"Of course, Mooch." Kate smiled at him, then turned back to Humphrey. "Now, I get it, you just want to go out and have some fun with your friends. This is a big step and change in your life. In both our lives. And you want to enjoy some time with your friends before that change happens." And then her expression changed. A more worried look appeared on her face. "But still? You're going to slide down Pyramid Mountain? That's insane. You could all get seriously hurt. You could die on that ride!" She was getting hysterical, so she took a breath to calm herself down. "Like I said, I love you. And it's because I love you that I can't let you go through with this."

She had spoken. Everyone seemed to be moved by her words. Shakey was already crying. "That... Was so... beautiful." he managed to say through his tears. Mooch and Salty were sniffling as well. Even Oscar was sniffling. "Start crying and I'll gorge your eyes out!" Harrison hissed to him. Oscar, scrambled and composed himself again. Finally, Shakey got a hold of himself. "Okay Humphrey. Now what do you have to say to Kate?"

Humphrey thought for a second. "Uh, well, you are right. I did just want to have some fun with the guys here. See, I don't know what the future will bring me after we're married. I'm worried I might not have much more free time to be with the guys after tomorrow. I know I'll have a lot more responsibilities and duties toward the pack. In the end, I'm worried those responsibilities will turn me into a new wolf. Without time for fun, games, and friends, I'm afraid that I won't be Humphrey, the fun-loving omega anymore. That wolf with start to disappear."

"Humphrey, you're not going to disappear." Kate said comfortingly with a smile. "A couple more duties won't change who you are. You'll always be the fun-loving omega that I fell in love with. Because that's who you are, and nothing can ever change that." She leaned over and gave him a soft lick on the side of his muzzle.

"Thanks Kate." Humphrey smiled at her. He could tell she meant every word she said. This was a promise she was making. A promise that he would not change.

"And don't worry about being overloaded with responsibilities." she continued. "I've seen you in action. You're a really responsible guy. And remember, we're about to be married. You know what that means? It means everything we do, whatever problem we have, we're in it together. I'll always be there for you, whenever you need me. No matter what."

"Yeah." said Garth. "And she's not the only one. Like we've been telling you all night last night. We'll always be around to help to. We're your friends Humphrey, through thick and thin. Am I right?"

The omegas, as well as the birds over from the log, all cheered and nodded in agreement. "No matter what the future holds for us, we stick together! Friends for life!" said Salty.

"If you ever need help with anything, Humphrey," added Shakey, "We'll be there for you. Just like we've always been there for you. Like we've always done for each other."

"Yeah." Added Mooch.

"You have all of us, whenever you need someone, we'll be there Humphrey." said Lilly.

Humphrey looked around him. He looked into the faces of all of his friends, and at his beautiful, soon-to-be mate. All smiling, honest faces. They all loved him, they definitly would always be there for him when he needed them. And suddenly, Humphrey realized how lucky he was to have so many friends who adored him.

"Thanks guys." Humphrey said with a smile. "You don't know how much all of this means to me." and then he shed a slight tear.

"Well now." Harrison's harsh voice suddenly said, completely interrupting the moment. He stood up and walked over toward the gang. "I hate to interrupt the moment, Humphrey, but I do believe you and your friends were about to go for a ride."

Humphrey took another look at his friends. They all looked at him, waiting for his response. It was his call. "You know what Harry?" Humphrey said at last, "I'm not sure I want to do this anymore."

"What?" Exclaimed Salty. Everyone else was shocked.

"I mean, I don't really need to go through with this ride to prove that I have good friends. I know I have good ones right here. And I don't want to loose any of them. So I don't really know."

Harrison suddenly became furious. He leaped into the crowd, and grabbed Humphrey around the collar, gripping his fur tightly. Kate and the boys at first got ready to pounce to Humphrey's defense, but his glare, which said that he would hurt Humphrey if any of them moved, silenced them.

"Now listen close you pathetic pup!" Harrison snarled to Humphrey. "When you first came up here, I could have had you killed in a second, any excruciating way I wanted. But no! I decided to be nice, and let you have some fun, and let you go out with a bang! I just spent the whole morning helping you and your filthy friends get ready for this! You're worried _now_ about them getting hurt? Too bad! You should have thought of that before you entered my territory! Now get your little wolf ass in that log right now, or so help me, I'll throw you off the slope right now!"

Humphrey gulped. Harrison's furious, hate-filled eyes pierced deep into his soul. "Okay, okay." He stammered. "Can you just give me another minute to talk it out with everyone? Please?"

Harrison took another deep breath, and tightened his grip on Humphrey. "You're driving my patience to the breaking point, boy!" He hissed. "You have one minute starting now." He dropped Humphrey, and he landed with a thud. And then he trotted back over to Oscar and Duke.

"You know, even if Harry wasn't forcing us through," Shakey said, "It would be a shame to hike all the way up here just to walk down again."

"I hear that." Mooch agreed.

"Okay then, I guess the ride's still on!" Humphrey cheered. The other boys laughed.

"Wait Humphrey," said Kate. "Me and Lilly are coming with you."

Everyone froze for a second. That was the last suggestion they thought Kate was going to say.

"Is this just because you don't want to walk down either? Or because of Harry?" Humphrey asked.

"No, its not just those things." Kate replied. "Remember what I said a minute ago? That when we're married, we're in everything together? Well, that includes this. I said I don't want to see you get hurt, and I want to protect you from anything that might. I also said I'm not just going to let you go through with this. So I'm going with you to help you. And if you die, I die."

"Another moving speech, Kate." Oscar chuckled.

Humphrey turned to the guys. They all shrugged, showing they did not care. "Okay Kate." Humphrey smiled "Let's get going then. The more the merrier!"

"Oh, and Shakey," Kate said, beckoning him closer.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. Thanks for helping us work this out. Humphrey's lucky to have you for a friend."

"Hey, we helped too!" Salty called over.

"No problem." Shakey replied. "Like I said, we'll always be there for Humphrey when he needs us. And now, we'll be there for you too!" Kate smiled back at him. "Hey, by the way, does Janice know I'm up here?"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Kate replied. Then she raised her paw and smacked him right across the muzzle.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Sorry, Janice said to give that to you."

Garth turned back to Lilly for a second. "Lilly, are you sure you want to do this with us? Because you don't have to."

Lilly just looked up at her mate for a second. "Garth, you know I love you more than anyone else could, right? I just don't want to lose you either." She started crying, clearly thinking about what it would be like to lose her man. She was also somewhat hurt from what he had said to her earlier. Garth could see this. He could tell that he hurt her. He was ashamed for it.

"Lilly, I love you. I would never do anything that might hurt you. You know that, right?"

"I just can't stand the thought of losing you, Garth." Lilly leaped at Garth, and pressed herself against his warm chest. He hugged her back, his fur soaking up her tears.

"It's okay, It's okay." He whispered soothingly to her. After another minute, she seemed to have calmed down, and she pulled back to face him again.

"It's like Kate said. Strong mates need to stand by each other in hard times like this. And that is what I'm going to do now with you."

"Lilly, you don't have to come on this ride with me to prove you're strong, if that's what you're trying to do."

"I know." Her reply was calm, composed, with a smile.

"And besides, I'll protect you from anything out there."

"I know you will."

"ARE WE DONE WITH THE FREAKIN' SOAP OPERA YET?" Oscar screamed. "Come on! I want to see some action!"

"Yes, I've given you more than enough time to talk." Harrison added angrily. "All of you, in the log, now!"

All the wolves scrambled to get into the log again. This time, Kate took the front seat. When it was just the guys, typically, Humphrey took the front, but Kate and Humphrey had always done log sledding together with Kate in the front, right in front of Humphrey, cuddled up against his chest. Behind her was Humphrey, of course. Then was Salty, then Shakey, then Garth, then Lilly, who held tight to Garth's left foreleg in both of hers, then Marcel and Paddy, and Mooch at the end.

Suddenly, Lilly noticed something she had not before. "Hey, wait a second. How did Pete get up here before us?"

"Yeah, we were ahead of him last time we saw him." Kate added.

"Another one of the many mysteries about Pete." Oscar answered apathetically. Pete giggled to himself, as though enjoying the uncertainty of his peers.

"Okay," Harrison breathed, he was starting to look insane with anticipation from waiting for so long. "Bruiser, on the count of three, again."

Bruiser, who was staring off into space, snapped back to reality. "Huh? What? Oh, right! The log!" spat into this paws again, rubbed them together, and gripped the sides of the log again. "Ready when you are, boss!"

"One, two..."

"No, wait!" Lilly cried quick and raised her paw.

"WHAT!" Harrison shouted.

"I kind of need to pee."

Harrison's jaw dropped. "You gotta be kidding me." Oscar said. The then pushed close Harrison's jaw for him. "Go behind the rock over there." Oscar pointed back at the rock that the boys had gone behind earlier.

Lilly hoped off the log, and walked back to the rock. "Ewww! What's with all this pee and turd here?"

"Sorry, those are all us." Salty called over.

"JUST GO!" Harrison bellowed.

Lilly went with ease after that. After her, however, Kate suddenly had to go, and then Salty had to go a third time, and Mooch a second time. It all took about another ten minutes.

At last, everyone had their bladders empty, and were all sitting in their seats in the log comfortably.

"Hey, Humphrey, what's with the blanket?" Kate suddenly asked Humphrey. She suddenly noticed the heavy blanket covering the log that they were sitting on.

"This?" Humphrey replied. "Oh, you'll see. It's for a little plan we have."

"Yeah. It's our ace in the hole." Salty added.

"Where did you even get a blanket?" Kate asked.

"Oh, um, we'll explain it later." Humphrey stuttered a reply. Now was definitely not a good time to tell Kate about their raid in the hunters' camp. Kate actually could figure it out herself, but she herself knew now was not the time for talking about that.

* * *

"Well, they're all getting back in the log." Candu reported. "Kate and Lilly aren't stopping it. Sorry Claw. You guys forfeit."

"Dang!" Claw spat. Scar grunted with disappointment.

"So what's happening now?" Eve asked.

"It looks like Kate and Lilly are climbing into the log with them. They're going on for the ride too!"

"What? Are you sure?" Winston demanded

"I'm sure sir. Look for yourself" Candu handed over the binoculars to Winston. He looked through at the top and saw, to his surprise, that all the wolves, even Kate and Lilly were now in the log."

"Is it too late to make a bet on Kate and Lilly?" asked one wolf from the crowd.

"Yes, it is." Winston snapped, signaling that wolf to sit down again.

"Sounds like they're about to take off!" Milo squeaked giddily.

* * *

"Okay now," Harrison stuttered, obviously holding in a lot of anger and anticipation that has been building up. He was clearly more eager than ever to see these wolves die. "So everyone has used the rock a fair number of times, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"And everyone has had something to eat quick?"

Everyone nodded. Kate and Lilly have not eaten since dinner last night (which they have had before the moonlight howl), but neither of them were hungry now.

"And are we expecting anyone_ else_ to join us?"

Everyone one shook their heads.

"Okay then! I think we're finally ready! Bruiser! Forget the countdown, just shove 'em off!"

Bruiser gripped the log, and prepared to shove.

"Wait! One last thing!" Humphrey shouted.

"GRRR! WHAT NOW!" Harrison growled

"I have one more thing to say."

"Say it!"

Humphrey looked back at his friends, smiled, then turned back to Harrison, and spoke. "Harry, you're by far the ugliest, smelliest, and nastiest cat I have ever seen in my life!"

The mountain top roared with laughter. Kate laughed hysterically of course. Salty high-fived Humphrey, Shakey Garth, and Lilly all nearly had to lean on each other. Marcel and Paddy leaned on each other, and Mooch nearly feel off the back of the log.

Even the cougars were cracking up. Pete was rolling on the ground, laughing his head off and holding his stomach. Oscar put his arm around Bruiser to hold himself up. Even Duke could not contain his laughter. The only person on the top who was not laughing was Harrison.

"GRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!" Harrison lost his mind. He went completely berserk. He started jumping around, running around in circles, rolling on the floor, clawing at the open air and at the rocks. He had not been so humiliated in a very long time.

"You got that Paddy?" Humphrey said to Paddy.

"Ah, yes." Paddy replied, finally starting to calm down. He took out the list and his charcoal pencil again. "The last thing on the list: 'Tick off Harrison'. Check!"

At last, Harrison pulled himself together, though he was still clearly furious. "Bruiser! Push them off! Now!" Bruiser was still laughing too hard to pay attention.

"GA! I'll do it myself!" Harrison ran up behind the log, and grabbed the end just behind Mooch, and pushed with all of his strength. He was not as strong as Bruiser, so he could not shove them off so quickly, but the old cougar certainly had some muscle in him. Everyone suddenly stopped laughing as they noticed the log being pushed. It was quickly getting closer and closer to the edge. Everyone braced themselves for the plummet.

"Oh, here they go!" Milo shouted back down in the valley, looking through the binoculars. Suddenly, the crowd grew deathly silent.

Alright, this is it. Humphrey thought to himself. Here we go. No matter what happens, we're all in this together! He gripped the sides of the log, felt Kate's fur against his chest, Salty's against his back, and readied himself.

Suddenly, the tip of the log was pushed over the edge, and was pulled down by gravity. Everyone in the log screamed as they shot straight downward.

**Author's Note: I am really sorry for such a long update. After I posted the last chapter, first I took a little break to catch up with my school work, then I got grounded, then we went on a family vacation for spring break, then I briefly got grounded again, and the day I posted this was the day I took my first SAT. It's just been really hectic in my life. I'm glad I was finally able to get this in though. I'm really sorry to keep everyone waiting. I hope I made it worth your wait here with this.**

**And I'm sorry this chapter turned out so long again. This will definitely be the last chapter that's longer than 10,000 words, I'm pretty sure. Though it may be another while before the next chapter comes up. There's a ton of other stories I want and promised to read, review, and help out on. **

**I also want to say I had a really fun time writing this story for the most part. You ever try writing along while listening to music that sets the tone of the scene you are creating? Or maybe watching a video that has some sort of connection or resemblance to your scene? It really is fun and helps a little. A good feeling of isolation helps too.**

**Another word about this story: When I first started this story, I had done no research on cougars, and thought they were just the same as lions, and grouped together like them. But then I did a bit more research on them, and found out that I was WAY off. Cougars really are loners, and stick to themselves as much as possible, only mate for a few hours than leave each other, and are very aggressive towards anyone, even other cougars. So if you're doing a research project on cougars, don't use my story as a source. Also, by the time I realized this, my story was well on its way through, and it was pretty much too late to change anything. And remember, it's fanfiction, so it's okay if not all the facts are accurate, right? Let's just say that Harrison has rigged up the nature on Pyramid Mountain and turned it into his own empire or something.**

**Again, big thank you to all of my readers, supporters, reviewers, and subscribers for appreciating my work, and for sticking with me after all this time. I hope everyone was able to enjoy this next chapter, and that there is much anticipation for the next. Thank You.**


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